Unknown
by pencil gal
Summary: AU. Lily is your average muggle-born witch. James is your average pureblood wizard. This is a story of how two enemies became friends then lovers. A story of love, Quidditch, feminism and friendship.
1. Planning Payback

Unknown - by Strawberry  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the harry potter characters they are property of Ms. J.K. Rowling. Anything you don't recognize and the plot is mine and mine alone.  
  
Chapter 1 - Planning Payback  
  
"JAMES ZACHARIAH POTTER YOU EGOTISTICAL MORON! YOUR GONNA PAY FOR THIS!!!" Lily Evans screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran out of the 5th year girl's dorm room. She had woken up that morning to find that her long auburn hair was now lime green.  
  
"Just because all the girls at this school fall at your feet because of your amazing charms and unbelievable good looks," Lily continued every word dripping with sarcasm, "doesn't give you the right to do this. I will get you back for doing this to my hair." With that Lily stalked off towards the Great Hall for breakfast, cursing to herself and planning ways to get back at James.  
  
"You think I'm good looking?" James called after her as she walked away, grinning to himself and trying to hold in his laughter at the sight of her hair. Without bothering to turn around, Lily simply yelled "dickhead" and continued to stomp away.  
  
"Man, that girl really hates you doesn't she?" James' best friend Sirius Black commented.  
  
"Yeah she does. That's why it's so much fun to pull pranks on her" James replied still grinning like a Cheshire cat.  
  
"Oi James. How does Lily know your middle name?" This quite confused Remus Lupin, the third Marauder and resident werewolf.  
  
"Well...uh...you see.it's like this," James stammered but was interrupted by Sirius' growling stomach.  
  
"Come on lets eat already," Sirius was now whining. The three of them headed towards the portrait hole so they could eat, Sirius practically running.  
  
'That was close' James thought.  
  
~*~*~ In the Great Hall ~*~*~  
  
"He is such a prick! That is the fifth time he's pranked me since we got back a month ago! God I hate him! I can't even change my hair back the spell is irreversible. James Potter is such a stupid bastard. Why can't he leave me alone? Carly you gotta help me get back at him. Please?"  
  
Carly, a brunette with deep blue eyes who was Lily's best friend, just looked at Lily, amused. Lily was having another one of her rants about how awful James Potter was, which she often did after he had pranked her. Carly often found this funny. She could tell that Lily liked James, even if Lily wouldn't admit it. She never got this upset if Sirius or Remus pulled a prank on her. Carly also knew that James kept doing it because he liked seeing "the hot red-head prefect" (Sirius' words) mad.  
  
"OK Lil. I'll help," Carly thought it best if she agreed, otherwise Lily would probably keep rambling all day, "What are we gonna do?"  
  
"Kay here's what I was thinking."  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: ok this is my first fic so I no it sux. Please review, im not gonna be one of those authors who demand reviews before putting up the next chapter. The part where james thought 'that was close' that just popped in there so don't ask about it. I don't know how im gonna explain it so if uve got ne ideas im glad to hear them. Also if u have ne ideas about how I can work the name into the story im glad to hear those to.  
  
Strawberry aka Samantha 


	2. Revenge is sweet

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Carly and the plot. So there *sticks out tongue* u can't sue.  
  
Unknown - by Strawberry  
  
A/N: Hey there. Heres the next chapter, it's not very good but oh well. Ill say it now. In this story peter isn't going to be the one who betrays the potters. I don't like him; hes still an evil git, and is slow and dim- witted in this story. If u can guess who then u can have a cookie or a guest role. Anyway on with the story.  
  
Chapter 2 - Revenge is sweet  
  
Lily and Carly were still sitting together talking in whispers when the Marauders walked into the Great Hall. James spotted Lily's bright lime green hair straight away and cracks up laughing.  
  
"Mate what's so funny?" Peter asked. James, unable to respond, merely points at Lily. Sirius, Remus and Peter look where he's pointing and begin laughing also.  
  
"Why doesn't she change it back?" Remus wondered.  
  
"Coz she can't. The spell is irreversible. It'll be like that for three days," James willingly replied, still chuckling. They walk over to where Carly and Lily are sitting.  
  
"That hair of yours is looking absolutely gorgeous this morning Lil," said Sirius in a mock serious tone of voice. Lily just glared at Sirius then James. To Carly she said,  
  
"We're doing it tonight." And got up and began to walk away.  
  
Sirius was confused. "Doing what tonight?"  
  
"Nothing that concerns you." Lily stopped walking and turned around. "Oh yeah, and don't call me Lil."  
  
That being said Lily left the Great Hall and began walking towards her first class, which also happened to be her favorite, Charms.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"What's happening tonight?" Sirius was still confused.  
  
"Like Lily said nothing that concerns you." Carly said this with an evil glint in her eye which James noticed and became suspicious. He narrowed his eyes and thought 'Hmm. I don't like the sound of this.'  
  
~*~*~  
  
Lily couldn't pay attention in any class that morning. James noticed this since Lily always paid attention in every class, even History of Magic, which was without a doubt the most boring subject. 'That girl's planning something,' he thought, 'and I'm betting it has something to do with us Marauders.'  
  
At lunch Lily and Carly were planning their prank when Carly saw the Marauders heading their way. "Li shut up they're coming over."  
  
The Marauders walked up and sat down next to them, Remus and Sirius either side of Lily, James and Peter either side of Carly. "Hullo ladies, fine classes we just had eh?" Of course it was Sirius who said this. (A/N: who else would?)  
  
Lily quickly glanced at Carly and grinned evilly then said to Sirius in an extremely innocent tone "Oh they were marvelous, especially double potions with the Slytherins."  
  
"Lil you haven't paid attention to class all morning," James pointed out. Lily then moved her gaze to him. 'This can't be good,' James thought.  
  
'This'll be good,' Lily thought at the exact same moment. "And how would you know if I was paying attention James?" she said out loud, "You didn't happen to stare and laugh at my bright green head all morning did you?" she continued, emphasizing the words "bright green".  
  
"Uh."  
  
"Well for that you get." Lily looked down at her plate which had roast lamb on it covered in gravy. "THIS!" Lily picked up her plate and threw the food at James. The lamb landed on his face and the mashed potato which had also been on Lily's plate was all down his shirt.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Oh yeah it was also for calling me Lil. Didn't I say this morning not to do that?" Lily looked at James then said, "Ugh. I'm not hungry anymore. I'll meet you at Divination Carly." Lily left haven gotten in the last word again.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The rest of the day passed quickly. Lily continued to daydream in class and James continued to watch her trying to figure out what she was planning. He didn't realize that he had the complete love struck look on his face. Sirius and Remus however noticed and commenced teasing.  
  
"Aww our young Jamsie's got a crush on a certain green-haired prefect that's named after a flower," Sirius said in a sing song voice.  
  
"What?! No I don't!" James protested.  
  
Remus chuckled, "Then why have you been staring at her all day?"  
  
"I haven't been staring," James denied, "and I don't have a crush," he added.  
  
Remus merely raised an eyebrow and said, "If you say so James."  
  
Dinner was also uneventful as James had decided that he didn't want more food thrown on him so he and the other Marauders sat at the opposite end of the Gryffindor table from Lily and Carly surroundered by their usual horde of ditzy girls. Lily and Carly were sitting by themselves as usual but they preferred it that way. They spent dinner finalizing their plans for that night.  
  
~*~*~Midnight~*~*~  
  
Lily and Carly crept out of the 5th year Gryffindor girls' dorm room careful not to wake their dorm mates. They made their way to the boys' dorm room and snuck in on their tip-toes. Carly made her way to Sirius' bed and Lily went to James'. Lily had decided that Sirius also deserved punishment for calling her Lil. His punishment just wouldn't be as severe as James'.  
  
Lily began to look through James' trunk while Carly poured peroxide through Sirius' hair. (A/N: btw I dunno how peroxide actually works but this is my story so go with it) "You found his boxers yet?" Carly whispered. Lily continued to root through James' trunk.  
  
"Found 'em," she whispered back and pulled out a pair of red and gold boxers. Something else caught Lily's eye. "Hey look at this. James has an invisibility cloak." Carly raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Wonder where he got that?"  
  
"Who knows? Anyway let's finish this. You got the peroxide?" Carly passed Lily the bottle. It was still ¾ full. Lily looked at it thoughtfully then grinned and poured it all into James' hair. Meanwhile Carly had used a charm to turn Sirius' teeth fluoro orange.  
  
"Is James' name written on the inside of his boxers?" Carly asked still whispering so as not to wake the boys.  
  
"Yep. You done?" Carly nodded.  
  
"Good. Let's go down to the Common Room and finish so we can get some sleep."  
  
~*~*~Next Morning~*~*~  
  
James woke up early, which was unusual for him. Usually Sirius and Remus had to wake him up. He got up and went to have a shower.  
  
He hopped out of the shower and wiped off the fogged up mirror.  
  
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
James' hair had gone from one extreme to the other. His originally unruly jet-black hair was now white blonde. Sirius and Remus ran into the bathroom. James' eyes got even wider which he hadn't thought possible. Sirius' hair was now a golden blonde. Simultaneously they pointed at each others' hair, then their own, then the others' again. The people down in the Common Room then heard an ear-splitting scream from two boys.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!"  
  
~*~*~Meanwhile in the Common Room~*~*~  
  
Lily and Carly looked at each other and grinned. They knew why there was screaming coming from the 5th year Gryffindor boys' dorm. The other people in the Common room looked confused for a moment then went back to laughing at what was suspended in midair above their heads.  
  
In the air was a pair of green boxers covered in silver writing. On the back was written "I love Slytherins" and "Slytherins Rule". On the front in big bold silver capitals was written "I LOVE SNAPE!"  
  
At that moment the Marauders came downstairs. Everyone turned and stared. James and Sirius glared at them then noticed the boxers in the air and started laughing. "Hey whose boxers?" James managed to get out. Everyone shrugged except two people, one of which yelled out "Accio boxers." Everyone turned to see Lily holding the boxers.  
  
"Hmm. Let's see whose these are," was all she said. She looked inside and put on a fake shock face.  
  
"C'mon Lily whose are they?" someone from the crowd yelled. Lily grinned and held up the boxers. She found James' eye before stating slowly, "James. Potter."  
  
James was red. Everyone was shocked. Someone had pulled a prank on the famous James Potter. "Oh and look there's a note," Lily continued, "It says 'Courtesy of me'. Do you know what that means James?" this said in a confused tone. Lily grinned at him, threw him the boxers and walked out of the portrait hole, saying on the way, "Love the hair guys; you should give me the name of your hairdresser some time."  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: ok there you go. Chapter 2. it's a semi long chapter. Longest ive ever written. 4 pages on word. Well u no the drill, read and review that's all u gotta do.  
  
Strawberry aka Samantha 


	3. Threats

Disclaimer: I own Carly, the ditzy bitches and the plot. The rest belongs to the amazing Ms Rowling.  
  
A/N: ok heres the 3rd chapter. It prolly wont be as long or as good as chapter 2 but oh well. Ok here goes.  
  
Unknown - Strawberry  
  
Chapter 3 - Threats  
  
Lily and James continued to prank each other, each prank getting bigger and more complex. It went on this way for a long time. However while this happened there was a lot of stuff going on. James had recently started dating one of Lily's ditzy dorm mates. She was a blonde blue-eyed bitch named Michelle. Michelle and her equally ditzy and bitchy friends Madeleine, Sarah and Anna had teased Lily and Carly and made their lives living hell ever since first year.  
  
So after about the third prank that Lily pulled on James Michelle decided it was her duty to "speak" to Lily about it. It was a Saturday morning and also a Hogsmeade weekend so Lily found it quite strange when she walked into the Gryffindor Common Room and found the Hogwarts Bitches as Lily and Carly called them just sitting there. Lily just dismissed it and walked past. Lily and Carly had learnt to ignore everything they said. What was even more surprising to Lily was when Michelle stood up and blocked Lily's exit and then started talking.  
  
"Evans I want a word with you," said Michelle.  
  
"Well I don't want a word with you so get out of my way before I punch you in the face," Lily casually replied.  
  
"What if I don't want to move?" was Michelle's smug answer. Lily shrugged and punched her in the face. Michelle fell to the ground and glared up at Lily. She stood up clutching her face.  
  
"You listen to me and you listen good Evans," Michelle said in a low menacing voice that didn't scare Lily one little bit, "If you prank James again or hit me again your life won't be worth living you ugly little mudblood."  
  
Lily looked amused. "What right do you have to threaten me about James?"  
  
"He's my boyfriend." Lily snorted.  
  
"Your boyfriend?" Lily was choking on her laughter, "Your James' new flavor of the week. My prediction. He'll dump you on Tuesday."  
  
Michelle glared at Lily. "How dare you say that? You're just jealous." Lily laughed. "If you say so Michelle. Now may I go have my breakfast?"  
  
"Don't forget what I said Evans." Lily smiled and walked out of the portrait hole. That night Lily pulled another prank on James. She'd stop pranking him when James stopped pranking Lily and not a minute sooner.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The pranks continued until Halloween when Professor McGonagall had had enough. At the end of Transfiguration she asked Lily and James to stay behind. "I have had enough of all the pranks you two have been pulling on each other. You're acting like seven year olds. To think that I have to say this to Prefects. I don't want it happening again and to make sure it doesn't you will both have detention every night for a month starting tonight. Now go."  
  
Lily and James walked out of the Transfiguration room. Once they were outside Lily started speaking. "This is all your fault you know."  
  
"Mine?! How is it my fault?!"  
  
"Because you started it all by turning my hair green."  
  
"You are unbelievable you know that Lily? It was one little prank and you turned it into a big deal."  
  
Lily glared at him. "You know I hate you James Potter," she said and walked away.  
  
"Yeah well I hate you too Evans," James called after her. Lily ignored him and kept walking.  
  
'No you don't,' said a voice in his brain, 'you should stop saying you hate her when you know it's not true.'  
  
'Shut up you,' James replied.  
  
"You talking to yourself now James?" Sirius had walked up behind him. James jumped. "You know that's a bad sign when you talk to yourself."  
  
"You shouldn't sneak up on people Sirius," James replied. His stomach grumbled.  
  
"Well? We going to the feast or what?" said Sirius and he walked towards the Great Hall.  
  
"Yeah yeah, let's go." With that they walked off and James forgot about Lily for a little while.  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: I realize that this was a really bad chapter but I couldn't think wat else to write. So read and review that's all u gotta do.  
  
Strawberry aka Samantha 


	4. Detention

Disclaimer: all things recognizable belong to J.K. Rowling. Plot's mine.  
  
A/N: ok here's chapter 4. This is better than the last chapter and it's longer. I like it better than chapter 3. Enjoy!  
  
Unknown - Strawberry  
  
Chapter 4 - Detention  
  
"So why did you and Lily have to stay back after class?" Remus asked eating his dinner calmly while James and Sirius stuffed their faces with food.  
  
"Was it one of those special Prefects things?" asked Sirius with his mouth full. James swallowed before replying,  
  
"No it was more one of those you both have detentions starting tonight things."  
  
"Ha ha sucked in," said Sirius, "How long for?"  
  
"Every night for a month," James groaned.  
  
"Oh man this is hilarious," laughed Sirius, "Spending every night with Lily for a month. You lucky dog. She is quite pretty."  
  
James' eyes widened. "Oh no," he groaned, "4 hours alone with Lily every night? I'll be dead in 3 days."  
  
~*~*~After Dinner~*~*~  
  
James walked down to the Transfiguration room at 8:30 that night. When he arrived Lily was sitting there alone. He couldn't see McGonagall anywhere. As James walked in Lily glanced up expecting to see McGonagall but when she saw James she glared at him and went back to work. James sighed and sat down. He got out his homework but started watching Lily instead.  
  
'Sirius was right she is pretty. And her eyes. They're amazing. You can tell everything going on inside her head just by looking into her eyes,' he thought.  
  
'Just admit it already,' said another voice, 'you like her.'  
  
'No I don't so shut up,' James replied.  
  
'Yes you do. You can deny it to anyone you want but you deny it to yourself.'  
  
'Okay fine maybe I do like her. A very tiny bit.'  
  
"Mr Potter!" McGonagall's voice burst in on his thoughts. He snapped out of his trance. He looked up and found McGonagall glaring at him. "If you'd be kind enough to pay attention to what you'll be doing Mr Potter?" Lily ducked her head to hide her grin and snickered.  
  
"Now. For the first week you will be helping Mr Filch by cleaning the bathrooms every night the muggle way. Each night you will meet at Mr Filch's office and then he will take you to clean the bathrooms."  
  
"Excuse me Professor?" Lily interrupted, "I don't know where Mr Filch's office is."  
  
"That's all right Ms Evans," McGonagall replied, "I'm sure Mr Potter will be kind enough to escort you there. He's been in Filch's office often enough to know where it is. Now Mr Filch should be arriving soon," as McGonagall said this Filch walked in with his creepy cat Mrs Norris following him.  
  
"Evening Professor," he growled.  
  
"Good Evening Argus," McGonagall pleasantly replied, "Ms Evans and Mr Potter here are ready to go clean the bathrooms now Argus."  
  
"Right," he drawled, "Come on you two. And no talking." He walked out of the room with Lily and James following at a safe distance behind him.  
  
~*~*~Later that night~*~*~  
  
By the time Lily and James finished all the bathrooms it was 1am. Lily and James were walking back to Gryffindor Tower in silence until James broke it by saying,  
  
"Oh God I'm exhausted," he dragged his feet along the ground, "how are we supposed to do this every night? And why is it you don't seem tired after we just cleaned every bathroom in the castle the muggle way?"  
  
Lily kept walking then thought 'What the hell, I may as well answer him. Sure he's an asshole but at least he's being civil for once.'  
  
"I'm not tired coz I'm used to it," Lily stated simply.  
  
"What do you mean used to it?" James was curious.  
  
"Well since I'm muggle-born I had to do everything the muggle way before I came to Hogwarts and I still do have to go without magic in the summer holidays. Cleaning the bathrooms in our house is one of my chores and I have to clean the house as well. I should complain since cleaning the house is Petunia's job but if I do then she'll tell my parents that I..... Never mind," Lily ended abruptly.  
  
"Lily you do know that's blackmail don't you? Even if it's only a mild form of it."  
  
Lily sighed. "Yeah I know but if my parents find out what Petunia knows then they'd kill me."  
  
By this point they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Lily gave the password and walked into the Common Room. James followed her and said,  
  
"What could be so bad that you couldn't tell your parents?" Lily looked at him, shook her head and walked towards the staircase leading to her dorm room. "Good night Lil," James said softly not expecting her to hear. She turned around and glared at him and said,  
  
"How many times must I tell you Marauders not to call me Lil?" James looked at her shocked then turned around and began walking over to the staircase on the opposite side of the room. Lily continued to glare at James' retreating back then went to bed.  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: I'm really sorry. This chapter was meant to be a lot longer coz I wanted to do another few weeks of their detentions but I've got a huge writer's block. I'm gonna try and write some more chapters while I'm away. I won't be updating for 2 weeks. Read and review, its all u gotta do  
  
Strawberry a.k.a. Samantha 


	5. The Dream

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise; the plot is mine, yadda yadda yadda.  
  
A/N: well here's chapter 5. I've started chapters in the future I just need to write the chapters in between which is the hard part. This chapter is focused on Carly because it will be important in the future. Also a short chapter but very important to the eventual plot.  
  
Unknown - Strawberry  
  
Chapter 5 - The Dream  
  
One night, about a week after Lily let it slip that her sister blackmailed her, Lily and James were down in the dungeons getting sweaty, dirty and extremely tired from all the cleaning. Meanwhile Carly was fast asleep in her comfy four-poster bed in the 5th year girl's dorm. She had been sleeping a peaceful dreamless sleep until she started getting flashes of images. It was like watching bits and pieces of a movie, not that Carly actually knew what a movie was since she was a pure-blood witch.  
  
~*~*~Dream~*~*~  
  
Carly was walking through a black empty space when she suddenly saw two people up ahead sitting in a restaurant talking. She walked up to them but they couldn't hear or see her. Carly immediately recognized them as herself and James Potter. James started speaking,  
  
"Carly, I was wondering would you go out with me?"  
  
Suddenly the scene faded away into black and was replaced with another. This time Carly and James were flying on a broomstick at night. But then that faded away as well.  
  
It was replaced by an image of James and Carly kissing in the Gryffindor Common Room. Carly could see Lily and Sirius in the background. Lily rolled her eyes and began to walk away while Sirius just stood there shaking his head. Again the image darkened.  
  
Next Carly saw a wedding. Lily and James' wedding to be exact. Carly saw herself standing off to the side in a pale pink bridesmaid dress obviously trying to look happy for the couple but not quite succeeding.  
  
Finally Carly saw one final thing. She saw both James and Lily dead with a baby boy lying near Lily crying. As the scene faded away, Carly heard a cold voice hiss,  
  
"From love there comes hate."  
  
~*~*~End Dream~*~*~  
  
Lily walked into the girls' dorm to find Carly sitting up in bed, shaking and sweating. Lily ran over to her and whispered,  
  
"Carly what happened?"  
  
"I had a nightmare but all I remember is this voice saying 'From love there comes hate'," Carly replied.  
  
"Shh, Car it's okay. It was just a dream. It didn't mean anything, you'll be fine."  
  
"Thanks Li. You'd better get to bed; you must be exhausted after all those hours with James tonight." Carly raised an eyebrow suggestively.  
  
Lily scowled. "Don't even think it Caroline Josephine Ross. And don't get me started. Potter was more of a hindrance than a help. He just kept making more mess. Now I'm going to bed. Night Car."  
  
"Goodnight Lily."  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: There ya go chapter 5 done finally, no thanx to my brother who kept asking how much more coz he was being impatient. Anyway, hope it's ok. Read and Review its all you gotta do.  
  
Strawberry aka Samantha 


	6. Cool or cosy, environmentally friendly

A/N: I'd just like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. Yay you! Please keep the reviews coming.  
  
Chapter 6 - Cool or Cosy/Environmentally Friendly  
  
On the last day of November Lily thought back over the past month. 'This year is going so quickly,' Lily thought walking to lunch, 'and I suppose working with James hasn't been so bad. Sure he's still an annoying asshole but he can be civil when he wants.'  
  
"Lily!" a male voice called out to her, disrupting her train of thought. Lily spun around and found herself looking at the person she'd just been thinking about.  
  
"Was there something you wanted James?" Lily asked, 'I can be just as civil as he can,' she thought to herself.  
  
James did a double take. 'Did Lily Evans, the Lily Evans, girl who hates me with a vengeance, just call me James?' James looked at her stunned and said out loud, "Did you just call me James?"  
  
"Yes I did. Is there a problem with that? Coz you know I could always call you Potter, or jerk, or dickhead, or something worse if you'd like," Lily replied.  
  
"No James is fine," he said but thought to himself, 'Why is she being civil to me? Since when does Lily talk to me without getting angry or telling me to piss off?' James was very confused and continued to stare at Lily in amazement. However Lily was beginning to get impatient and began tapping her foot and cocked her to the side with her arms folded across her chest.  
  
Lily sighed in frustration. Obviously James wasn't going to speak until she said something.  
  
"Was there something you wanted James?" she said, repeating her earlier question.  
  
"What?" James intelligently replied shaking his head as if coming out of a trance, "Oh right. McGonagall asked me to tell you there's a Prefects Meeting straight after lunch today."  
  
"Okay thanks James I'll see you there later." Lily turned and continued towards the Great Hall for lunch humming a tune she couldn't get out of her head.  
  
~*~*~Prefects Meeting~*~*~  
  
Lily walked into the Prefects Common Room to find everyone waiting for her. She was still humming the same tune and had been all through lunch. She had finally worked out that it was from a Muggle ad but still couldn't figure out which one.  
  
"Good Lily, you're here, let's start," the Head Girl Rose Mitchells said.  
  
The Head Boy Oliver Anderson began talking, "Okay Dumbledore told us we have.." Lily tuned him out. In her opinion Oliver was incredibly boring and had a monotone voice that was easily blocked out. She concentrated on trying to figure out what the tune stuck in her head was. 'Cool or cosy, environmentally friendly,' sang in her mind.  
  
"That's it! I worked it out!" Lily shouted.  
  
Everyone looked at her in surprise. Lily looked back at them apologetically then at the Heads and said, "Sorry about that. Keep going."  
  
"As we were saying," said Rose, "There is going to be a Yule Ball on Christmas Day for the students staying at school over the holidays. It will be for 4th years and above."  
  
"You guys," Oliver continued looking at the sixth and seventh years, "will be helping Rose and I plan and set up the dance." He then looked at the fifth years and said, "Your jobs are to organize parties in your Common Rooms for the first to third years." They all nodded and began talking saying how much fun this would be.  
  
"Well, guys that's it, you can go," Rose called over the noise. Lily picked up her stuff and left since she didn't want to be late for Transfiguration. She began singing "Cool or cosy, environmentally friendly" again softly. 'I really have to get this out of my head,' she thought when she heard someone running behind her. Lily was about to take away house points when she realized it was James. He caught up to her and they kept walking.  
  
"So when do you want to start working on the party?" James suddenly asked.  
  
"How about tomorrow since we still have one more detention tonight," Lily replied.  
  
"Fine by me."  
  
They walked the rest of the way to class in silence except for Lily occasionally singing "Cool or cosy, environmentally friendly". By the time the two reached the Transfiguration classroom Lily had gotten the tune stuck in James' head. Inside they parted and James went to sit with Sirius, Remus and Peter. He then began singing "Cool or cosy, environmentally friendly" but only loud enough for the other three to hear.  
  
"What are you singing?" Remus asked.  
  
"By the way your singing sucks," Sirius felt the need to add.  
  
"Thank you Sirius for that lovely compliment," James said sarcastically, "but to answer your question Remus I wouldn't have a damn idea what it is. Lily was singing it while we were walking here and now it's stuck in my head."  
  
The tune was catchy but annoying and James couldn't get it out of his head no matter how hard he tried, the same way that he couldn't get a certain red-head out of his mind.  
  
~*~*~The next morning~*~*~  
  
It's amazing how fast things can spread in a castle of Hogwarts size. Lily found out just how fast when she walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. Everyone except the teachers were singing "Cool or cosy, environmentally friendly". Lily met Dumbledore's eyes and he smiled and winked at her. She grinned and started laughing until she was roughly pushed aside.  
  
Lily turned to see who had pushed her and saw Malfoy, one of the very few people she truly hated. She glared at him and he sneered back at her.  
  
"You better watch yourself mudblood," he said menacingly and walked away.  
  
Lily saw red and was about to say something when she heard him sing the same thing as every other student in the Hall. She let out an uncontrollable burst of laughter. Lucius Malfoy, hater of all things muggle and muggle-borns, was singing the jingle to a muggle ad. Lily couldn't help herself, it was just too funny.  
  
Lily walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down across from Carly, still laughing.  
  
"Li what is so funny?" Carly asked.  
  
"This, what everyone in the school is singing. I started this," Lily managed to get out between fits of laughter.  
  
"What do you mean?" Carly asked confused.  
  
Lily just shook her head with merriment and mumbled, "Unbelievable" then broke down giggling again.  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: There ya go. This is just a fill-in chapter but it came out better than I thought and I like it. Don't worry if you don't know what cool or cosy is, it's an Australian thing. Read and review its all you gotta do.  
  
Strawberry a.k.a. Samantha 


	7. The Yule Ball

Chapter 7 - The Yule Ball  
  
Dumbledore stood up one night at dinner during the last week of term and cleared his throat.  
  
"Everyone can I have your attention!"  
  
The whole hall was immediately silent and gave Dumbledore their undivided attention.  
  
"Good now that I have your attention I have an announcement that will interest all of you. On Christmas Eve we are having our annual Yule Ball. It is for fourth years and up. You will require muggle formal wear so you will be able to get them this weekend from Hogsmeade. Third years and down you will be having your own parties in your common rooms. Also the sign-up sheets for anyone staying at Hogwarts over the holidays have been posted in the common rooms. Now for dinner." Dumbledore and the whole hall began whispering.  
  
At the Gryffindor table Sirius was thinking. 'Perfect. This is perfect. James is never gonna admit to liking Lily even though it's obvious, so I take Lily to the Ball, make James jealous then make him tell us everything afterward.' Sirius looked across the table at James. He was too busy eating to notice what was going on around him. Sirius began whispering to Remus next to him. Remus nodded and they stood up, walked over to Lily and Carly and sat back down.  
  
"Hey guys," said Lily, "what's up?"  
  
"Well we were wondering if you two lovely ladies would care to accompany us to the Ball," replied Sirius.  
  
Lily raised her eyebrows and shared a look with Carly.  
  
"What's in it for you guys?" Carly asked.  
  
Remus gave her a fake shocked expression and said, "How could you ask us that?" Lily and Carly just looked at him. "Okay so there is a reason but we can't tell you. But we promise that this isn't because of a bet or dare, we just want to go as friends."  
  
Lily thought about that. "Well if we're just going as friends then I'll go with you," she said to Sirius, "Car?"  
  
"Okay," she smiled at Remus, "Sure why not? Sounds like fun."  
  
Sirius and Remus grinned. "Excellent. We'll talk about this later then. See you soon." They got up and walked back to Peter and James.  
  
James had finished eating and looked up when Sirius and Remus sat down.  
  
"Where have you two been?" asked Peter.  
  
Sirius and Remus looked at each other the Remus replied,  
  
"Oh just getting dates for the Ball."  
  
"What?!" James exclaimed, "Already? Who?"  
  
"Oh I'm going with Lily and Remus is going with Carly," Sirius said nonchalantly.  
  
"You're going with Lily," James said softly, more to himself than anyone else.  
  
Sirius didn't say anything just looked at Remus and thought, 'Oh Jamsie-boy you got it bad. You're gonna tell me once this ball is over whether you like it not.'  
  
~*~*~The Ball~*~*~  
  
An hour before the Yule Ball was due to start Lily and Carly were beginning to get ready. They'd had showers and were putting on make-up. Lily, who didn't believe in the wizard ways of make-up, was applying her eye shadow and lipstick the slow, muggle way.  
  
Carly, however being the pureblooded witch she was, couldn't understand why Lily would actually want to do something the muggle way when the wizard way was so much simpler. Point your wand; say a spell and it's done. Carly already had her hair and make-up done and was just watching Lily doing her make-up with her straight hair up in curlers. Lily also refused to do her hair the magic way.  
  
Once Lily was done, the two girls helped each other into their formal dresses. Lily had chosen a pale blue full length dress with shoe-string straps and blue high heels while Carly had opted for a strapless white dress that went to her knees and went perfectly with the tan she had gotten over the summer. Lily took down her hair to find it slightly curly; exactly the way she wanted it.  
  
"Car I think we're ready," declared Lily, "Let's go have some fun!"  
  
~*~*~In the Common Room~*~*~  
  
The Marauders were down in the Common Room waiting for their dates. Michelle and her group of blondes came down first. Michelle and Anna left to go find their Ravenclaw dates while Madeleine went to James and Sarah went to Peter. Next down was Carly. She smiled, walked over to Remus and said, "You ready for some fun?"  
  
"I am indeed fair maiden," he replied.  
  
Last but certainly least Lily came down. She had had to run back to the dorm to touch up her lipstick and she looked perfect. Sirius looked at Lily and grinned. She looked gorgeous. Sirius shifted his gaze to James to watch his reaction. It was exactly as Sirius anticipated. James' eyes had practically fallen out of his head and his jaw had hit the floor.  
  
Lily smiled at them all and walked over to Sirius. Sirius took her hand and while leaning over to kiss it said,  
  
"My dear you're looking absolutely divine this fine eve."  
  
Lily dropped into a curtsy and said,  
  
"Why thank you kind sir." Lily stood up, laughed then said, "Come on Siri I'm hungry," she pouted, "Let's go have fun already."  
  
Sirius grinned and held out his elbow which Lily hooked her arm through and they walked towards the portrait hole. Sirius stole a quick glance back at James to find him staring at Lily. Sirius smirked. James' eyes hadn't left Lily since she came down. 'He is so fessing up after this,' Sirius thought as he left the Common Room.  
  
~*~*~Great Hall~*~*~  
  
After eating a filling dinner, all the small tables that had replaced the four house tables disappeared and couples got up and started dancing. The first song was a fast one and Sirius and Lily fake tango to it. They continued dancing to the next few songs. After four though Lily had to stop. "Sirius stop for a second. I have to take off these damn heels, they're killing my feet." She took them off, put them to the side of the hall and went straight back to dancing.  
  
When a slow song came on Lily and Sirius kept dancing and began to talk.  
  
"So Lady Lily, how do you like having everyone watching you?" Sirius asked.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well let's see. All the girls are jealous of your beauty and the fact that you're dancing with one of the hottest guys in Hogwarts (Lily rolled her eyes) and all the guys want to dance with you."  
  
"Well I definitely don't want to dance with them. I wasn't even going to come to the dance except that you asked me so I knew I'd have a good time."  
  
"Why weren't you going to come?"  
  
"Because as a Prefect everyone would expect me to come. I don't do what others want me to. I do what I want to and I wear what I want to and I don't give a damn about what people think of me."  
  
"I think that's a good attitude to have. You be yourself and aren't superficial like most of the girls at this school."  
  
"Thanks." Lily smiled.  
  
The two danced all night to every song while James watched, seething with jealousy.  
  
~*~*~1 am in the Boy's Dorm~*~*~  
  
Sirius walked in grinning.  
  
"This has to be the best Ball ever!"  
  
"I'll agree there," said Remus.  
  
James got up off his bed and walked over to Sirius.  
  
"So is Lily a good kisser?" he asked bluntly.  
  
"I didn't kiss her. Me and Li went as friends," Sirius replied. Then realization hit him. "You're jealous!"  
  
"I am not!" James shouted.  
  
"You are too. You've got a crush on Lily and you're jealous I went to the Ball with her. Don't deny it coz we can all tell."  
  
James sighed in resignation. "Fine. Yes I have a crush on Lily. You happy now?"  
  
"How long?" asked Peter.  
  
"Since the first night I had detention with her."  
  
Sirius whistled, "That long? That's nearly two months. I thought it only started a few weeks ago."  
  
"Anyway it's 1:30 I'm going to bed. Good night guys."  
  
"1:30?" said Remus, "It's Christmas Day. Merry Christmas Marauders."  
  
With that they all fell asleep dreaming of presents, feasts and in James' case a red-haired beauty.  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: There done. I'm no longer putting up a disclaimer, if it so important to you then check the earlier chapters. I'm starting a competition. If you can guess who betrays Lily and James (it's not Peter) then you can have a cameo. First person who gets it right gets to be in the fic. Just say who you think in a review. Read and Review its all you gotta do.  
  
Strawberry a.k.a. Samantha 


	8. Dance the night away

Chapter 8 - Dance the night away  
  
Winner: Wolfmoon won the competition from last chapter. Only two people got the right answer. There will be more competitions coming when I think of them.  
  
A/N: I'm only saying Lily's presents because they're important and the others aren't. Showtime....  
  
"MERRY CHRISTMAS LILY!!"  
  
Lily groaned. "Carly please let me sleep. You promised you wouldn't wake me up until at least 7."  
  
"That's right I did promise that. And the time is now 7:45am."  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up." Lily looked at the foot of her bed and shrieked in delight. "PRESENTS!"  
  
Carly rolled her eyes. "Now why didn't I just scream that out? You would've woken up straight away."  
  
Lily stuck her tongue out at Carly and grabbed the present closest to her. (A/N: Let's just assume that Michelle and her group arrived back at Gryffindor Tower so late that they fell asleep in the Common Room explaining why they aren't in the dorm) The card read:  
  
Our darling Lily,  
  
Merry Christmas to our little witch  
  
All our love always  
  
Mum and Dad  
  
Lily grinned and tore into the present. Out fell some muggle clothes that Lily had been looking at over the summer, three new spell books and underneath them was a large photo album full of photos starting when Lily was born. Lily smiled softly while flicking through a couple of the photographs then turned her eyes to the other presents still sitting at the end of her bed, begging to be unwrapped. The next present Lily grabbed was surprisingly from Petunia. The card attached said:  
  
Here's some of your stuff freak. You'd better come home at Easter to get the rest of it because after that you're never coming back to my house.  
  
Petunia Evans  
  
Lily was confused. Why was Petunia sending her stuff? And why did Petunia mean by "my house"? It was Lily's house as well. Wasn't it? Lily opened her package to find things from her room. Books, teddies, photos, posters and a tape with all her parents' favourite songs. This confused Lily even more. She shook her head and picked up her present from Carly.  
  
Inside was a photo-frame that had a picture of Lily and Carly just after they met in first year and a photo of the two of them that had been taken just a few weeks ago. It was just a simple silver frame with the words "Best Friends" on it. The present hadn't had a card attached but stuck on the corner of the frame was a note that said:  
  
Li  
  
Best friends forever  
  
Carly  
  
Lily walked over to Carly and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," she whispered. They broke apart and linked pinkies. "Best friends forever," they said together. Lily looked back at her bed and saw another present there. She picked it up curiously. 'I wonder who this is from,' she thought, 'I usually only get presents from Mum, Dad and Carly.' Lily found the tag and read:  
  
Dear Lady Lily,  
  
Merry Christmas. You aren't allowed to feel guilty about this since it's from all four of us and we won't take no as an answer. You have to keep it.  
  
The Marauders  
  
Lily unwrapped it and pulled out a Comet 50 broomstick. It wasn't the best or most expensive broomstick but it was a very good one. "Oh my God how did they afford this?" Lily said out loud.  
  
Carly looked over and gasped. "They gave you one two?"  
  
"Apparently."  
  
"Come on let's go have breakfast. The guys are probably already there."  
  
Lily and Carly walked down to the Great Hall laughing, gossiping and planning fun for Christmas. They sat down next to the Marauders. Everyone at the Gryffindor table stared. The two fifth year outcasts had just sat next to some of the most popular guys at Hogwarts. Lily, Carly and the Marauders were oblivious to the stares and whispers.  
  
"Thank you guys so much for the broomsticks!" Carly exclaimed.  
  
"You guys shouldn't have. They cost way -" Lily started but Sirius interrupted,  
  
"Lady Lily did you read the card? We said not to feel guilty." Lily rolled her eyes.  
  
"Fine, fine," she smiled, "Look mail's here."  
  
An owl dropped a letter in front of Lily. 'What's this?' Lily thought, 'I wasn't expecting mail today.'  
  
Dear Ms Evans  
  
It is my grave duty to inform you that your parents, Crystal and Ian Evans have passed away. They were both shot last night by a muggle serial killer who escaped from prison. I am very sorry for your loss.  
  
Bartemius Crouch  
  
Minister of Magic  
  
Lily stared at the letter in shock.  
  
"Lily what is it?" Carly asked concerned.  
  
Lily didn't reply but stood up still with the shocked expression on her face. She kept walking until she ran into someone. A girl helped Lily off the floor.  
  
"Lily, are you okay?" the girl asked. Lily looked at her but didn't say anything. "Lily? It's me. Marnie Rae. We met at the last Prefect meeting." Lily looked away and started walking again. Marnie watched her in confusion for a few moments then went for breakfast.  
  
Lily kept walking. Somehow she made it back to her dorm. She picked up her photo album that she had only received that morning off her parents. Lily went back to the Common Room and sat down in her favourite chair, a big, comfy, red one in front of the fire. Lily began to go through the photos slowly and started thinking. Petunia's letter made sense now.  
  
Lily sat there until lunch looking at photos. Carly and the Marauders had been searching for Lily for hours when they finally went up to the Common Room to find Lily staring into the fire.  
  
Carly walked over to her. "Li what's going on? What did that letter say?"  
  
"They used to love sitting in front of the fire. Not talking, just the two of them sitting there in pleasant silence." With that Lily got up and walked out of the Common Room taking her album with her.  
  
~*~*~11pm~*~*~  
  
Lily returned to the empty Common Room late that night. She tiptoed into the dorm so as not to wake the sleeping girls, found the tape Petunia had sent her and went back downstairs. She sat down in her chair and transfigured a log into a tape player. She put in the tape and listened to the music letting childhood memories flood her mind.  
  
------------------------  
  
Upstairs James couldn't sleep. He lay in bed thinking about what had happened that day. They had searched all day for Lily but neither the Marauders nor Carly had been able to find her. They had even consulted the Marauders' Map and Lily hadn't been on it.  
  
As James listened to Remus and Peter's light breathing and Sirius' heavy snores he heard soft music drifting up from the Common Room. He got out of bed and went to investigate. He stopped on the stairs though when he saw Lily. He sat down and just watched her.  
  
She had just stood up and began slowly dancing to the song "You don't send me flowers". It was this song that produced the most memories. Lily remembered how her parents would dance together to this song every chance they got. Her parents had once said that they had danced to it at their wedding.  
  
As Lily danced the tears that had been building up all day burst out. Lily didn't stop though. She kept dancing with tears running down her face. Now that she had started she couldn't stop. She had to keep dancing and the tears just kept coming. When her parents' tape ended, Lily walked over to the tape player and put on a tape that was full of songs with fast beats and rock music. Lily went back to dancing out her emotions. She didn't go to bed that night, Lily just stayed down in the Common Room and danced the night away.  
  
James was too far away to notice that Lily was crying. He just sat there watching her dance and thinking what an amazing dancer she was. (A/N: Lily is not going to be a Mary Sue, she just happens to be a good dancer. When you do 5hrs a week for 6 years you get good.) Eventually James fell asleep on the stairs not long after Lily put on the rock music. One of his last thoughts was that although Lily was an unbelievable dancer, she had to be in some sort of pain to be dancing the way she was. What James wanted to know was why Lily was upset.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Read and Review its all you gotta do. 


	9. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

**_Chapter 9 – _**_Gryffindor vs. Slytherin_

It was now half way through the second term and Lily was wishing it would go as slowly as possible. She was dreading having to go home to collect her stuff and leave the only place that had ever been home to her. Lily had only told Carly about her parents. As far as she knew Carly was the only one who knew about her parents' death. However, Carly had told the Marauders and asked them to keep it quiet. James had known Lily was upset and had pestered Carly until she told him. She told the Marauders to act the way they normally did and not pity Lily because Lily would know if they were. She had like a sixth sense that immediately told her if people were pitying her even if it didn't show.

The big Quidditch match of the season was coming up fast. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch cup two years running and were looking good to do it again. When James had become captain the previous year he had changed the team's tactics and Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin by a landslide. Everyone in the school including teachers were excited about the upcoming game. Well, everyone except Lily that is. 

As much as Lily loved Quidditch itself she hated the fact that girls were never chosen for teams. Never in the whole history of the school had a girl been picked for one of the house teams and Lily thought it was very sexist. A woman had never played Quidditch professionally. It was the 70s for crying out loud, not the 1700s. Hadn't these people ever heard of women's rights? Lily was a feminist and had decided back at the beginning of the year that somehow, even if it took her her whole life she would change this. 

After her parents' deaths Lily had withdrawn into herself, speaking only to Carly and occasionally one of the Marauders. She spent most of her time reading, drawing or dancing, always by herself. However one night, about a week before the match, Lily was about to start to become more like her old self. 

Lily walked into the Common Room and found James and Sirius (both Chasers on the Gryffindor team) discussing the match against Slytherin. Lily walked up to them and listened and thought. She wasn't really paying attention when a thought popped into her head.

"James why do you think girls are never picked for house teams or asked to play professionally?" Lily asked. The boys stared at her in shock. It had been so long since they had heard her say more than five words at a time. James recovered quicker than Sirius and answered, 

"Well guys are stronger, faster and are generally better than girls at sport." It was as if James didn't even have to think about it, to him it was a given fact that guys were better at sport, girls were better at cooking.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head and said, "Well I'd have to go with James on this one. For once he's right about something."

"Hey!" James exclaimed while Lily narrowed her eyes at them.

"Do you two know how sexist you are?" she asked, "Ever heard of the Women's Rights Movement? You're so thick headed you probably haven't. One day I'm going to prove you wrong about this." Having said that Lily walked off in a huff.

James and Sirius frowned and looked at each other. "What do you think that was about?" Sirius asked.

James shook his head. "I've got no bloody idea. And what's the Women's Rights Movement?"

Sirius shrugged, "How the hell should I know? But it's good to see Lily talking again."

James nodded, "It definitely is."

-----*****~~~*****-----

~*Day of the match*~

"Come on Lily let's go please? You'll enjoy yourself," said Carly.

Lily rolled her eyes and growled. "Fine I'll come. You know I could've stayed here and read in the peace and quiet. But no you have to drag me to the Quidditch game played by all the sexist men in our school who think that they're just so much greater than us weakling girls."

Together they walked to the Quidditch pitch, Lily grumbling the whole way about how sexist some people were. They found seats in the first row and sat down to wait. Finally the teams came out and a seventh year Ravenclaw by the name of Fleance Banquo (a/n: we're doing Macbeth in English, first name I thought of. I don't own him) who was acting as commentator announced the players.

"THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM WITH CAPTAIN JAMES POTTER, CHASER. SIRIUS BLACK AND HUCK GIFF, CHASERS. BEATERS TOM NATION AND BEN MURRAY. KEEPER STEPHEN JACKSON AND SEEKER MITCHELL TODD. FOR THE SLYTHERIN TEAM, CAPTAIN AND KEEPER LUCIUS MALFOY. CHASERS TRISTAN SULLIVAN, CHRISTOPHER BRADY AND ADAM PETERS. BEATERS PHIL EDWARDS AND DAVID TAYLOR, AND SEEKER SIMON GREEN. WE'RE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO WHAT POTTER HAS IN STORE FOR US TODAY. EVERYONE HAS COME TODAY TO SEE ANOTHER EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE FROM THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM LIKE LAST YEAR. CAPTAINS ARE SHAKING HANDS AND THEY'RE IN THE AIR, GRYFFINDOR TAKING POSSESSION OF THE QUAFFLE IMMEDIATLEY AND BLACK SCORES! GRYFFINDOR TAKES AN EARLY LEAD, 10-0."

This continued on for about an hour. Slytherin occasionally got a few goals but Gryffindor was too good. James was practically in heaven. The score was 120-30 Gryffindor's way and James was confident that the snitch would be caught soon. That was until an unfortunate accident occurred. Phil Edwards, the more vicious of the two Slytherin beaters (although they're both pretty vicious) hit a bludger extremely hard at Huck Giff who had the Quaffle. The bludger hit Giff so hard in the back that he fell off his broom. He fell about 30 feet but luckily Dumbledore was in the stands so by the time he hit the ground he only had a broken leg and arm. Madam Hooch called a time out and all players landed with the Gryffindor team going to surround Giff. 

All of the Gryffindors and most of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had run onto the field when Giff had landed. Lily however had been the first out of her seat and so had arrived on the pitch first and was now standing in the inner circle around Giff with the Gryffindor team, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore.

"Is he going to be okay Madam Pomfrey?" James asked.

"He will but not for a day or two," she replied.

"B-but the game," said James.

Madam Pomfrey looked at him sternly. "Mister Giff has a broken arm and a broken leg. He certainly won't be going back to the game."

James and Sirius looked at each other despairingly. "What are we gonna do? We don't have a reserve Chaser. We need someone who can play right now."

"James I can play," Lily spoke up. James and Sirius looked at each other again.

"Lily I'm really sorry but girls aren't really that good at Quidditch," said James quietly.

Lily was beginning to boil. "You need a Chaser now and I'm a good one. Do you want me to play or not?" James looked as though he was seriously considering it. That is until another voice broke in on the conversation.

"You're not gonna let a _girl on your team are you Potter," drawled Malfoy. That did it for James. He turned back around to Lily and said, _

"I'm really sorry Lily." Lily glowered at him then spun around on her heel and stalked off. As she pushed people out of her way, they could hear her muttering things like, "freakin' stupid asshole" and "thinks he's so great". She went all the way up to her dorm then flopped on her bed still boiling with anger. Lily pulled out WutheringHeights in hopes that she could calm down a bit while in her own little fantasy world.

Needless to say Gryffindor lost the match. They had finally found a Chaser but he hadn't been very good and Gryffindor had suffered the worst loss they'd had in 75 years. James wasn't happy (who would be after losing a game). The team would have to fight extra hard to win the Quidditch Cup now. He was deep in thought. Maybe he should've let Lily play whether she was a girl or not. After all Lily didn't usually say she was good at something unless she really was. Overall James was in a bad mood that night.

A/N: that's the chapter. Please review. Flames are accepted even though I completely disregard what they say. But if possible please don't send them. After all as Buffy said to Giles on that momentous day that is known as Graduation, "Fire bad, tree pretty." 

-----*** Samantha ***-----


	10. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

**_Chapter 10 – _**_Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs_

Lily sat on the train home for Easter holidays. She looked out the window at the rain and began thinking. Carly had offered to come home with her but Lily had said no. Firstly Lily had to deal with this on her own. Her first time back home since her parents died. It was something she had to do by herself. Secondly Lily didn't think Petunia would be too happy if Lily had brought one of her "freak" friends with her. 

Lily thought back over the events of the second half of the term. It had been a rather boring term after the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Lily had of course reverted back to hating James Potter with a vengeance. She had decided that he wasn't worth being civil to. There hadn't been any excitement for Lily until the last week of term. She had decided that she needed to find something bad about James Potter. Something she could get him into real trouble for. In simple terms Lily was looking for blackmail. And of course Lily found exactly what she was looking for.

_~*Flashback*~_

"Lily are you sure you want to do this?" asked Carly.

"Yes I'm sure. Everyone thinks James Potter is so perfect. Quidditch captain, great marks, one of the wonderful Marauders. Ugh. Makes me sick. Potter is hiding something and I'm gonna find out what. And then should he ever piss me off again I'll take whatever it is he's doing and go public."

"Okay Lily. Do what you want but I hope you know I think what you're doing is wrong."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever Carly. Potter deserves everything he gets."

All that week Lily snuck around looking and waiting for James to slip up. But he seemed to be acting extra perfect. It was if he knew he was being followed everywhere. Fortunately for Lily and unfortunately for James, Sirius was the one who slipped up.

On the Friday afternoon, last day before holidays, Lily walked into the Common Room. James and Sirius didn't notice her and continued talking.

"Prongs, we going out tonight?" asked Sirius.

"Did you see the moon last night? 'Course we're going out tonight."

"Invisibility Cloak?"

"Well duh Padfoot. How else did you think we were gonna get out of here? And keep your voice down." The two moved away not realizing that someone had overheard their conversation. Lily raised her eyebrows. 'Invisibility Cloak, eh? That could make things difficult. Oh well I'll just have to wait and watch until the portrait opens with no one coming in or out.'

For the rest of the afternoon Lily sat patiently in the Common Room pretending to read _Jane Eyre. At one point James had come down and had tried to apologize again to Lily but by now he had realized that it was pretty pointless. He was now only doing it out of habit. When Lily returned from dinner in the Great Hall she once more took up the pretence of reading _Jane Eyre_, while she was really discreetly keeping an eye out for James and Sirius._

She didn't have to wait long since they arrived not long after her. They sat down on the other side of the Common Room huddled over what looked like an old piece of parchment. Lily noticed that Peter Pettigrew was with them but Remus wasn't. It was only then Lily realized he hadn't been to classes that day.

The boys seemed to be waiting for something. They certainly weren't leaving anytime soon from what Lily could see. Slowly the Common Room began to empty and by the time it reached 11:00 the only people left were James, Sirius, Peter and Lily.

Lily heard one of the boys sigh then all three stood up and over-exaggeratedly stretched and yawned. "Night Lily," the three said as they walked past her.

"Night Sirius, night Peter," she replied, pointedly ignoring James. Lily smirked as she watched their retreating backs and began softly giggling to herself. For some reason Lily couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes, not until her excellent hearing kicked in and she heard people coming down the stairs from the boy's dorms. Lily quickly hid back behind her book and patiently waited while they passed her. Lily stifled her laughter at their shuffling feet and the amount of noise they were making. For people who were meant to be invisible they sure made a hell of a lot of noise.

Once the portrait had closed Lily got out of her chair and silently began to follow the boys. She followed them down to the Entrance Hall and then out of the front doors and into the grounds. They walked around the castle and over near the Forbidden Forest. 'Where are they going?' thought Lily, 'The only thing over this way is the Whomping Willow.'

And that's exactly where the boys walked to. Lily stopped a little way off behind a tree and watched as James threw off the Invisibility Cloak. Then what Lily had least been expecting happened. James, Sirius and Peter all suddenly became animals. Lily was shocked then grinned. 'This is perfect,' she thought, 'James Potter is an illegal Animagus. This is the best blackmail ever.'

As Lily continued to watch she saw the rat, who she assumed was Peter, dart between the branches of the Willow and press a knot in the tree. The tree froze and the stag, dog, and rat darted into the hole at the base of the tree. Lily stood there stunned.

It wasn't long before the animals returned but this time there was a fourth. Lily shook herself out of her stupor. 'Why do they now have a wolf with them?' she thought. Suddenly everything fell into place. The nicknames, the fact they were illegal Animagi, Remus' disappearance today, his frequent disappearances, even James' subtle hint about the full moon. Remus was a werewolf. Lily gasped. Even though the animals were a fair way away Remus must have heard because Lily saw the werewolf prick its ears up and turn around. Seeing this, the stag and the dog turned as the werewolf began charging at Lily. Lily held up her wand and yelled "Stupefy!" The werewolf froze. Lily looked into the stag's eyes and ran.

_~*End Flashback*~_

"KINGS CROSS STATION! EVERYONE OFF!"

Lily looked away from the window and picked up her things. She got off the train still thinking. 'I can't turn Potter in now because I feel bad for Remus. I'll have to talk to Remus when I get back.'

"Hurry up you freak," came Petunia's extremely non-pleasant voice, "I haven't got all day."

Lily sighed. This was going to be a long two weeks.

~**~~**~


	11. Two weeks with Petunia

**_Chapter 11 – _**_Two Weeks with Petunia_

**Day 1**

"Get your lazy butt down here Lily Evans!" shrieked Petunia.

"Jeez," Lily muttered, "I might have to kill myself if she goes on like this for two weeks. Although I should have expected it. I bet she even blames me for Mum and Dad's deaths. Selfish cow."

Lily walked downstairs and into the kitchen. "About time you got in here you freak."

"Was there something you wanted Petunia dear?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Yes actually Lily darling," Petunia replied equally as sarcastic, "I want you to clean the house, scrub the bathrooms, water the garden, mow the lawn then cook dinner. I'm going out for the afternoon. I want everything done by the time I get back."

Lily smiled tightly then went to begin. As she reached the upstairs bathroom, Lily was having a full-on rant about Petunia.

**Day 2**

Lily lay on her bed after dinner, which she had again made, and began verbally abusing Petunia. This was quickly becoming Lily's favourite pastime. "Who does the bleeding cow think she is? The bloody Queen of England? Why the hell did she make me clean the bathrooms and water the garden again today when I did it yesterday? There is no way I'm going to let this go on all holidays. I don't give a damn if she's my 'legal guardian'. I don't put up with Potter's crap so there's no chance in hell that I'm going to stand for Petunia's."

"LIL-EEE!!" 

Lily walked out to the top of the stairs and called, "What the hell do you want now?"

"Don't you dare use that kind of language with me young lady."

"Excuse me? Young lady? You're four years older than me Petunia Evans. Now what do you want? I already did everything you told me to."

Petunia glared at her. "I want you to go clean out the shed before you go to bed."

"Hey Pet what do you know? You're a poet and you don't even know it. Hmm… now let me think. To clean the shed. Let's see… no." Lily turned around and went back into her room slamming the door. She flopped down on her bed and growled, "Stupid bitch."

**Day 3**

Lily woke up and groaned. "Oh goodie," she said, "Today I can look forward to doing more cleaning while Petunia goes out and does crap. Well screw that. I'm gonna go have fun." Lily got dressed, grabbed some muggle money and left the house before Petunia could stop her.

Lily decided to do the first thing she thought of. She had enough money to buy herself a new book and maybe see a movie. Lily hopped on the bus and went into downtown London. She got off outside her favourite bookshop and went inside to start perusing the titles. 'Hmm… maybe I should get a Dickens book this time,' she thought. Lily stopped at the Dickens section and started pulling out books.

"Let's see. _Oliver Twist, read it already. __Great Expectations, same thing. Oh here we go _A Tale of Two Cities_ and _David Copperfield_. Hmm… __David Copperfield's longer so I'll get that."_

Having decided Lily took the book over to the counter and paid. "That's a great book," the cashier said.

"So I've heard," replied Lily. She took her bag and walked across the street to the movie theatre. Lily sighed. The only half-way decent thing that was showing was _Star Wars and Lily didn't particularly want to see it. 'Oh well may as well see it anyway. It's that or go home and have a nice little yelling match with Petunia,' she thought._

When Lily came out she got on the bus and began reading. It was now late in the afternoon but Lily didn't care. It's not like Petunia cared about her or anything. By the time the bus got to Lily's stop she had read two chapters. Lily got off and walked inside. If she was lucky she might be able to get upstairs without having to talk to Petunia. Lily did manage it and went to her room and kept reading. She didn't come out till the next day.

**Day 4**

"LILY EVANS!!"

Lily woke up startled and a bit confused. The sun was streaming in through her window but her light was on and there was something sticking in her side. Lily pulled it out and saw that it was her book. She looked at her clock and it said 11:00am. Lily realized she must've fallen asleep reading.

"GET DOWN HERE NOW FREAK!!"

Lily grumbled. She got out of bed and shuffled downstairs to where Petunia was going nice and slow just piss Petunia off.

"Take your time why don't you," Petunia said angrily.

"Okay I will," replied Lily in a cheeky tone.

"Don't give me cheek Lily. Where were you yesterday? I was worried sick."

"Yeah right. You were worried about a freak like me? Not likely."

"True but that's not the point. I'm your guardian and I-"

"HA," Lily interrupted, "My guardian? Tell me Petty do guardians usually make their charges, or whatever they're called, do all the housework while they go gallivanting around town?"

"Go to your room," Petunia bellowed, "You're not coming out till I say so."

"Okay Petty. Whatever you say." Lily bounced back up the stairs, locked herself in her room and went back to sleep.

**Day 5**

After lunch Lily decided to start packing up a few of her things. After all she was going to have to take everything she owned back to Hogwarts with her since Petunia never wanted her to come back. And frankly to tell the truth after the way these holidays were going Lily didn't want to come back either.

Petunia still hadn't let Lily out of her room, not even for meals but Lily had snuck out a few times for food. Lily wasn't going to starve herself even though Petunia might hope that she'd starve to death. Lily had spent all her time reading _David Copperfield and now the book was finished. 'I should've bought two books instead of going to __Star Wars,' Lily had thought as she snuck down for a sandwich._

And now that she had nothing to do Lily was bored. So she was going to begin packing. She would start with her room then over the rest of the holidays she would invade her parent's bedroom and take the things she wanted, such as the photo albums and her mother's jewelry.

By the time Lily went to bed she really hadn't packed much. Just some of her old toys and a few books. She had kept getting side-tracked by all the memories that things brought up. Although it hurt, it wasn't as painful as Lily had thought it would be. More happy memories were brought back than sad ones anyway. And although Lily cried herself to sleep, she was glad that she had her memories because they were things no one would ever be able to take away from her.

**Day 6**

Lily continued to pack her things up. She skipped breakfast and worked straight through lunch and dinner. By the time Lily stopped she had all her toys and books packed and it was 9:00pm. She sighed. She was exhausted and was getting light-headed from the lack of food. 'I'll start my photos tomorrow if Petunia still hasn't let me out,' Lily thought.

Feeling as though she were going to faint Lily went to go get some food from the kitchen. But it was the wrong time since as Lily walked past the living room door Petunia came out and caught her.

"What are you doing out of your room missy?" Petunia said pompously, "Did I say you could come out?"

'Think fast Evans,' Lily thought. "Umm… I thought I heard you call me."

"Really? So have you thought about what I said?"

"Yes Petunia."

"And do you agree that I have the right as your legal guardian to know where you are at all times?"

Lily inwardly rolled her eyes. "Yes Petunia."

"Good. Then you are allowed out of your room again."

"That's great Pet. Cause I thought tomorrow I'd go into the city. If that's alright with you of course." Petunia glowered but didn't seem to be able to come up with a good reason why Lily couldn't go. "Thanks Petty darling." Lily did an Irish jig into the kitchen while Petunia continued to glare at her back.

**Day 7**

Lily woke up with a smile on her face. What a nice dream that had been. She had been flying on her broomstick, playing Quidditch for England on an all female team. If only it were true in real life. 'Oh well,' Lily sighed as she got out of bed, 'Maybe I'll be able to change all the prejudice against women playing Quidditch one day.'

Lily bounced down into the kitchen, where Petunia was eating breakfast, feeling the best she had all week. Lily grabbed a piece of toast of the table then said to Petunia as she bounced back out, "Bye Petunia. I'll be back this arvo."

Lily grabbed her wallet and went to hop on the bus humming the whole way. She got off the bus outside the bookshop and grinned. Inside Lily went straight to the Dickens area and grabbed a copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_ of the shelf.  She took the book over to the counter to pay.

"Back already?" asked the cashier, "You were only in here a few days ago. Don't tell me you've finished _David Copperfield already."_

"Yeah I have," Lily replied, "I finished it two days ago." The cashier was stunned. The two got into a discussion on classic books and when they had finished talking Lily walked over to a small café for lunch. After a croissant and chocolate thick shake Lily went window shopping. 'I wish I had more money,' Lily thought.

Lily arrived back home just in time for dinner. "I suppose you enjoyed yourself immensely today," Petunia sneered.

"I did actually," Lily replied cheerfully, "Thanks for asking Pet."

**Day 8**

"Freak."

"Yes Petunia?"

"Have you done your chores?" Lily nodded. "Have you done all the other things I asked you?" Lily nodded. "Good. Then I want you to clean out the shed."

"Is that so? Well I don't really want to do that. I'm feeling a bit tired after all the other things I've done today. And you might want to be careful Petunia. You wouldn't want to work me too hard. I might have to report you to Social Services."

"Oh yeah? Well if you don't do what I say then I'll tell-"

"You'll tell who what Petunia? Mum and Dad are dead if you haven't noticed. You can't blackmail me anymore."

"Is that what you think freak? Mum and Dad might be dead but I can still tell your boyfriend about you."

"My boyfriend? You can try if you want but you might find it difficult since I don't have a boyfriend. Not everyone is a slut like you Petunia."

"You little bitch."

"Now now Petunia. You wouldn't be swearing in front of a minor would you? I think it's time you start being a bit more careful Pet."

**Day 9**

Lily's holidays were running out and she still had a lot to pack so that's what she did. She had to pack up everything from her room before she moved onto her parents' things. Lily began packing and again worked straight through lunch.

By the time Lily went down for dinner she had packed up everything in her room except her clothes and bed sheets and doona. Of course during dinner Lily was questioned by Petunia about what she was doing in her room all day. "Oh I was just reading this great book," Lily answered innocently, "It's called _A Tale of Two Cities and it's by Charles Dickens. You should read it sometime." Lily smiled._

"Humph," replied Petunia.

**Day 10   **

Of course since Lily had blown off her chores the day before she was expecting it when Petunia made her work all day long. Petunia as was expected went out, while she left Lily to do everything. Lily had to clean the house from top to bottom, including the attic and basement plus water the garden, pull out any weeds, mow the lawn and clean out the shed. Then on top of all that Petunia had ordered Lily to make roast lamb and baked vegetables for dinner.

By the time Lily had done everything and had the roast cooking she was exhausted. She stumbled up to her bedroom, fell on her bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

"LILY EVANS!!" 

Lily woke up and could smell something burning. "What the hell?" she said. Lily gasped. "Oh no! The roast lamb!" Lily ran downstairs and into the kitchen where Petunia was standing rigidly glaring at the oven. Lily opened the oven and stared at the lamb, which was now as black as charcoal and completely uneatable. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Petunia. I fell asleep. I swear I didn't mean to," Lily tried to explain.

"Room now," Petunia said simply while her nostrils flared. Lily sighed and went back up to her and began reading.

**Day 11**

Lily again spent the whole day reading, occasionally sneaking out for food. 'Petunia will have to let me out soon,' thought Lily, 'After all there's no way that she would want to do lots of work herself.' 

'I can't wait to get out of here,' Lily thought before she went to sleep, 'I'd be happy if I never have to see Petunia ever again. She's a bloody tyrant, that's what she is. I hope she never has children. I'd never leave a child in her care. Only over my dead body would a child of mine ever live with her.' Lily sighed. Only a few more days then she would be free.

**Day 12 **

Lily spent her morning reading A Tale of Two Cities. By lunch she had finished it so she packed it away then snuck down for a sandwich. In the afternoon though Lily decided that she should probably do the homework they had been assigned over the holidays. And there was quite a bit of it. Lily had a three foot essay for Charms, two rolls of parchment about Vanishing Spells for Transfiguration, yet another boring essay about some goblin rebellion for History of Magic; she had to do some research on muggle authors for Muggle Studies and a two foot essay for Potions.

"Oh God," Lily moaned when she had gotten out all her books, "This is too much. I'll never get it all done." She began hitting her head on a book then calmed down a bit. "Okay, okay. I'll do Muggle Studies first since that will be easy."

Lily settled in and worked for a solid five hours. Lily's stomach rumbled and she jumped slightly. 'Wow,' she thought, 'I actually managed to get a lot done.' Lily had finished the homework for Muggle Studies, History of Magic; she'd done half of the Charms essay and had written a role of parchment so far for Transfiguration.

"Lily could you please come down here?" Lily heard Petunia call. Lily went downstairs and confronted Petunia defiantly. "I have decided you've been punished enough," Petunia said, "Now I'm going to be out all day tomorrow so I've written a list of things that I want you to do." Petunia handed Lily the list and Lily stared at it incredulously. Lily turned around and went back to her room still staring at the list.

**Day 13**

Lily went downstairs for breakfast to discover that Petunia had already left. She found a note on the table saying that Petunia would be back at approximately 7:00pm. "Okay," said Lily, "This is perfect. Okay planning the day. This morning I'll try and do a lot of what Petunia has on that stupid list of her's, then I'll have a super quick lunch, then grab the things I want from Mum and Dad's room, pack them up carefully, then finish off the things from the list. After dinner I'll finish the Transfiguration and Charms work, hopefully start the Potions which I can then finish tomorrow."

That's the plan that Lily followed. After she had quickly eaten breakfast, Lily had worked hard and fast up until 1:00pm. Luckily for her she had managed to get through two-thirds of what Petunia had written down. Lily made herself a sandwich and ate it on her way upstairs. She finished it as she went into her parents' room. When Lily walked in there she was overwhelmed with memories and emotions. 'No,' she thought, 'I don't have time now. I have to get the photos and jewelry then go straight back to the work on the list.'

Lily grabbed all the photo albums out of the wardrobe and took them into her room and put them in her trunk. She went back to her parents' room, picked up her mother's jewelry box then stopped. She had a look around and suddenly realized this would be the last time she ever set foot in this room. Lily sank to the floor and began crying.

Half an hour later Lily wiped her eyes and picked up some of the photos as well as the jewelry box and packed them. Then Lily began working faster than ever to get all the things on Petunia's list done. She managed it and it was still only 6:30. Lily made herself another sandwich then went back to her homework.

**Day 14 **

Lily walked downstairs that night dragging both her trunks behind her. "What are you doing freak?" asked Petunia.

"I'm just bringing my stuff downstairs so I don't have to in the morning. That is okay isn't Petunia?"

"Fine. But why do you need to have your freak stuff downstairs?"

"I'm going back to school tomorrow. You are driving me to Kings Cross aren't you?"

"If I must."

Lily turned to go back upstairs but Petunia stopped her. "You do know don't you freak that whatever you own but don't take with you I'm either going to burn or throw out."

"I know."

"Good. Just so you know Lily you're never coming back here. I hope I never see you again freak."

"The feeling is mutual sister dearest." Lily went upstairs thinking about how much she couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and her friends, although she could definitely do without Potter being there.

~**~~**~


	12. Truth or Dare

**A/N:**I'd just like to thank all the people who have reviewed so far. Also there is a new competition at the bottom of the chapter as well as a poll.

****

**_Chapter 12 – _**_Truth or Dare_

"I'm bored," Lily whined to the group of six. It was a few weeks after they had returned from Easter holidays and most of the fifth years had begun to freak out about O.W.L.s. But not our favourite group of six no siree. They were more obsessed with finding something to do that wasn't boring.

"Well what do you want to do?" asked Sirius.

"I don't know, you guys come up with an idea cause I'm really bored and I'm about to explode from the boredom." They all shrugged then Peter piped up and said, 

"We could play Truth or Dare."

"Wormtail that would have to be one of the smartest ideas you've come up with," Remus put in. At the name Wormtail Lily started and glanced at James. He looked straight back into her eyes and they both remembered the last full moon before the holidays. Lily shuddered and diverted her eyes. The others were all agreeing to Peter's idea and were looking to Lily for her consent.

"Yes let's play Truth or Dare. Mwahahaha," Lily began to cackle evilly. The other five looked at her strangely and Carly said, 

"Okay Li let's get you upstairs so we can play." The six went up to the boys' dorm and sat around in a circle.

"Who's going to start?" asked Remus.

"Can I? Can I?" James asked bouncing up and down.

"Potter I don't believe it. You're an excitable blonde," said Lily. Again everyone looked at her strangely again. Lily just looked back at them and smiled.

"James to answer your question you may go first," Carly said.

"Goodie," James said rubbing his hands together, "My first victim shall be Miss Lily Evans. Truth or dare."

Lily smirked. "Truth."

James' face fell. "Aww. Spoil sport. Okay fine, truth. Let's see… ah I know. Why do you hate me?"

"I hate you because you're an egotistical, conceited, sexist, chauvinistic womanizer."

"But-but…" James sputtered.

"Don't say anything; I'm not going to change my opinion until you prove me wrong. Now it's my turn. Hmm… Remus."

"Dare," Remus said.

Lily smirked. "Okay I dare you to sing 'Love Shack' in front of the whole Common Room and at the same time go up to some of the seventh years and sing personally to them guys and girls."

Remus' eyes bulged out of his head. "Like hell I'm going to do that."

"Guys we're going to have to come up with a punishment for people who back out of dares or don't answer the questions," Peter put in, "Padfoot my friend any ideas?"

"Of course my dear Wormtail. If you back out then tomorrow you have to wear only underwear all day. Each time you back out adds another day to the punishment." 

Lily grinned. "So Remmie what were you saying about singing?"

Remus growled at her then got up and left the dorm. The others followed him. This was something they were not going to miss.

On the way back upstairs Lily, Carly, James, Peter and Sirius were cacking themselves while Remus was blushing furiously. "That… was… priceless," Lily gasped as she collapsed on one of the beds in the dorm. Remus glared at her and you could see the daggers shooting out of his eyes.

"Whatever you say Lil," Remus said.

"Don't call me Lil," Lily snarled practically baring her teeth.

Remus rolled his eyes. "My turn. Sirius truth or dare?"

"Dare of course," Sirius replied nonchalantly.

"Okay I dare you to go sing YMCA to the Slytherins."

Sirius' eyes widened in fear. "Oh no. No way. Absolutely no way in hell am I doing that."

James shrugged. "Then tomorrow you can spend the day in only your boxers."

"That's preferable to singing to the bloody Slytherins."

"Have it your way Padfoot."

"I will. Now let's see. Ah Carly darling, truth or dare?"

"Truth. You think I'm stupid enough to let you or James come up with a dare for me?"

Sirius pouted. "Aww why did you pick truth? Dares are more fun."

"They're more fun?" Carly was unconvinced, "Yes that would be why you just backed out of your dare."

"She's got you there pal," added Peter.

"Fine," Sirius sighed, "Who do you think is hotter, me or James?"

"James."

Lily looked at her in surprise then narrowed her eyes. 'There's something more going on there, I know it. But I thought Car had a crush on Sirius,' she thought. The game had continued while Lily had been thinking and now Remus was asking her "Truth or dare?" 

Lily raised her left eyebrow and said slowly "Dare."

Everyone in the room looked at her in shock and surprise. "Wha-what?" James said.

"Potter you're stuttering again. And I said dare so Remus are you going to dare me?"

"Umm yeah," Remus replied trying to regain his composure, "Uh I dare you to walk around the halls since it is after curfew."

Lily looked at Remus in shock causing James to say arrogantly, "You have been outside the Common Room after curfew haven't you?"

"You know quite well that I have Potter." Lily looked James in the eye and raised an eyebrow, "So that's the dare Remus? Mind if I borrow you Invisibility Cloak Potter?"

"You know about the cloak?"

"Of course. I've known since about October," Lily rolled her eyes. Everyone was still looking at her in shock. "Okay how about I go to the kitchens and bring something back to prove I did the dare?" The others nodded their heads mutely. Lily got up and left. She was back surprisingly quickly, which shocked everyone again after they had only just recovered. Lily handed out the food and then said, "Okay let's keep playing. Hmm Peter truth or dare?"

"Uh truth."

"Who do you have a crush on?" Lily grinned evilly.

"Umm Michelle," Peter muttered.

Lily and Carly both burst into hysterical giggles and it took them awhile to calm down. The Marauders were looking at the two of them as if they were crazy. Why would they be laughing about the fact that Peter liked Michelle? Michelle was a nice girl, surely Lily and Carly knew that since they slept in the same dorm as her.

"Now that you two have calmed down would you care to tell us why Michelle is so funny?" asked James.

Lily burst into giggles again as Carly tried to explain. "We're sorry but it's hard to picture Peter with Michelle. He's way too nice. I know James and Sirius have both gone out with her but she's a right stroppy cow Michelle is. Biggest bloody bitch in the school in our opinion."

"Umm… okay then well do you think we should continue the game?"

They continued to play. Every time one of the Marauders asked James truth or dare he always made sure to pick dare. He had a bad feeling about what they would ask him if he picked truth. And so far no else had backed out therefore leaving Sirius with the only punishment. That is until it came round to Lily about an hour later.

"Lily truth or dare?" asked Carly.

"Truth."

"Okay then Miss Evans; do you have a crush on someone?"

"Yes."

"What? Who?" Carly was stunned.

"Not telling. You didn't ask that as your question. Now James truth or dare?"

"What the hell. Truth."

"Would you ever date a Slytherin?"

"If she was hot." Lily narrowed her eyes at his sexist reply but didn't comment on it.

"My turn now. Truth or dare Lily flower?"

"Truth and don't call me Lily flower."

"Who do you like?"

"I'm not saying a word."

"Lily you'll have to wear your underwear all day tomorrow if you don't tell us," Peter reminded her.

"Fine. Oh would you look at the time we have to go now." Lily grabbed Carly's arm and dragged her out of the room. When they got back to their dorm Lily went straight to bed without saying anything.

*********

**Competition: **the first person to guess correctly who Lily has a crush on can have a cameo in an upcoming chapter of the fanfic.

**Poll: **Who would make a better Romeo?

        James or Remus


	13. Confrontations

**A/N: **Okay the winner of last chapter's competition was citrus scented. Only two people got the right answer for that.

**__**

**_Chapter 13 –_**_ Confrontations_

Lily and Sirius arrived in the Common Room the next morning wearing nothing but their underwear. The Common Room wasn't exactly full but it wasn't empty either and the students who were there stared at them as if they were crazy (which they most likely were). Sirius, being Sirius, bowed and grinned. Lily, however, blushed and tried to hurry past but then realized that the whole school was going to see her at breakfast anyway. She sighed and began to walk towards the portrait hole. As some of the guys began to wolf-whistle at her Lily blushed even harder but continued walking without looking at anyone, pretending that she couldn't hear anything.

Carly and the Marauders caught up to Lily about half way to the Great Hall. "Hey Lady Lily are you having fun cause I am," asked Sirius.

"You're having fun because all the girls in this school swoon at your feet when you're fully clothed so Sirius in boxers only triples the swooning. This is so very very embarrassing," Lily replied.

"Well Lily there is a way to get out of it," James said winking at Carly who got the message and played along.

"Yeah just tell us who you like and we'll let you go back upstairs and put your clothes on."

"Nope not telling. I'd prefer to wear this than give in easily to you two."

"Yeah," added Sirius, "And you want to see how many guys ask you out."

"Don't make me hit you Sirius dear," Lily said through gritted teeth and clenching her fist. Sirius looked genuinely scared. Obviously he had fallen victim to Lily's temper and violent tendencies before. The rest of the gang, including Lily, burst out laughing at the look of fear on Sirius' face.

"Come on Siri," said Lily, "Let's get this day over with already."

"Aye Aye Captain," Sirius replied and saluted Lily. Lily suddenly got an idea and grabbed Carly's arm. She whispered her idea to Carly then Carly grinned and nodded. They grabbed James and Remus and asked innocently, "Guys, mind if we have piggy back rides?"

James and Remus looked at each other with eyebrows raised then shrugged and said, "Whatever." Carly and Lily smirked identical smirks and hopped on James' and Remus' backs respectively (ie Carly got on James' back, Lily got Remus' back).

When they arrived in the Entrance Hall the gang saw a Hufflepuff girl. "Hey Nimmo!" they called to her in unison. Nimmo smiled and said "hello" and was about to walk on when she took another look at Lily, Carly and the Marauders.

"Uh guys," she said, "Umm what's with the underwear and piggy back rides?"

Lily, Sirius and Carly all grinned. "Well see last night we were playing truth or dare," Sirius explained, "And I refused to do a dare and Lady Lily refused to answer a truth question so this was our punishment."

"Okay that explains the underwear. Still not getting the piggy backs."

Lily and Carly smirked again and Carly beckoned Nimmo over. "James bend," she commanded. James rolled his eyes but did it anyway. Carly leant over and whispered, "This is to piss off the Hogwarts Bitches and make them completely jealous."

"Hogwarts Bitches?"

"Michelle and her blonde bimbos."

Nimmo grinned as well and stepped back. "Oh how I wish I could be there to see what they say but I have to go to the library. Have fun you two," she said.

Lily and Carly smirked and said, "Oh we will." They began cackling evilly.

"Are they crazy?" Peter whispered to Sirius.

"Completely."

Lily took her hands off Remus' shoulders and hit Peter and Sirius over the head. "It's not nice to whisper about people, you know. Even if it is true. Oh Peter, we are crazy," she said.

"Come on horses go," said Carly, "We've people to see," she winked at Lily, "And places to go."

"We're animals now?" James asked as the group walked into the Great Hall.

"_You always were," Lily replied her voice dripping with venom._

James didn't have time to respond as the "Hogwarts Bitches", or otherwise known to everyone who wasn't Lily and Carly, Michelle, Anna, Sarah and Madeleine, came running up to the group. Lily and Carly hopped off of Remus and James and walked up to the blondes, whose attention had been on Sirius until now.

"What do you two think you're doing stealing our men?" Madeleine demanded.

"You don't deserve them," Michelle continued, "Filthy mudblood. And you're no better Ross. Spending all your time with a mudblood."

The Marauders glared at the blondes and Peter stepped in front of Lily and Carly. "Don't you dare call her a mudblood. Lily is a witch and a better one than any of you. No wonder you're known as the Hogwarts Bitches. It's cause you are," he stated. (A/N: Go Peter! Friendship before girls. I'm so proud.)

Michelle gasped from anger. "How dare you?!" Michelle shoved Peter to the floor.

"Oh that's it," said Lily and punched Michelle in the face.

Michelle, holding her bleeding nose, exclaimed "You broke my nose you bleeding cow!"

Of course by this time McGonagall had arrived on the scene. "Ms Evans detention for fighting."

"Thanks Minerva dear!"

"Make that two. Detention for you as well Ms Wilkins for name calling. Now go up to the hospital wing. The rest of you continue your breakfast." The Marauders, Lily and Carly sat down at the Gryffindor table and all began talking at once.

"Go Lily!"

"What a punch!"

"You actually broke her nose!"

"Unbelievable!"

"That showed the bloody bitch!"

"You'd think that she would've learnt not to piss me off after the last time I punched in the face," said Lily.

"You've punched her before?" asked Remus.

"Yeah in October this year. It wasn't long after mine and James' prank war started and she threatened me not to play any more pranks on James. I told her to move cause she was blocking my exit from the Common Room so I punched her. Stupid whore."

"Bloody cow," Carly stated, "She deserves more than just a fucking broken nose."

"She does," added James, "And as much as I'd like to, as you girls put it, 'bitch' about Michelle but we have to get to History of Magic."

"Excellent!" yelled Lily. Everyone looked at her as if she were mad. "What?" asked Lily, "History of Magic means I can go back to sleep."

***************

**Poll:** Who would make a better Romeo? James or Remus?

**So far:**

**James – 4**

**Remus - 5**


	14. Final Month

**Chapter 14** – Final month

**A/N: **House points to anyone who can find the Buffy references.

-----

O.W.L.s. Those dreaded O.W.L.s. Only two weeks left and the whole of the fifth year had finally settled down to study. Even James and Sirius had buckled down and were studying hard. Only one girl refused to study. A red-haired, green-eyed, hot-tempered, Prefect named Lily Evans.

Lily walked into the common room after dinner one evening to find all of the fifth year studying. Lily rolled her eyes and flopped down in her favourite chair. Lily got out her new book and was about to begin reading when Remus said, "Aren't you going to study Lily? O.W.L.s are in two weeks."

"Nope I'm not studying. I don't see why you guys are so worried. It's only O.W.L.s."

Carly rolled her eyes and asked, "Are you ever going to study Li?"

"Have you ever seen me study before?"

"Good point."

"Hang on why is that a good point?" asked Sirius.

"Care to explain Carly?" asked Lily.

"Lily has never studied in her life and yet she still comes near the top of the year every time," Carly explained.

The Marauders stared at Lily with slackened jaws. "Now boys," said Lily, "you can close your mouths and return to your studying and I'll go back to my book."

Lily smiled and went back to her book happily oblivious to the fact that four boys were staring at the back of her head. Carly rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers in front of the Marauders faces. They shook their heads and looked at her. "You're staring," she said simply. "Now work."

--- One week later ---

Lily walked into the Gryffindor common room and slumped into a chair at the table where Carly and the Marauders were studying. Lily put her head on the table and just watched them work. "Lily you're being really distracting just sitting there," said Peter.

"Peter's right," added Carly, "Lily if you're going to sit there you're going to have to study."

"Fine," Lily replied and got out her Astronomy book.

Five minutes later ---

Lily slammed her Astronomy book shut. "I can't do this," she said exasperated.

"Do what?" James asked without looking up from his Herbology book.

"This." Lily pointed at her book.

"What?"

"Study!"

"Oh."

Lily opened her book again and started flipping pages.

Ten minutes later ---

"How much longer are you guys going to study tonight?" Lily asked.

"Lily are you going to do any work tonight?" asked Carly.

"Don't answer a question with a question."

Carly raised an eyebrow at Lily. Lily sighed. "I can't study Car. It's too boring."

Carly reached into her bag and pulled out a book. "Then read this."

"What is it?"

"A novel by a wizard author."

Lily looked at the book interested and went to sit on her chair by the fireplace.

--- After O.W.L.s ---

The Marauders, Lily and Carly walked down into the grounds after their last exam Defense against the Dark Arts. They all sat in the shade of an oak tree near the lake and began talking about the exam.

"How did everyone go with the werewolf question? Moony?" asked James. Sirius sniggered.

"I think I got all of the signs of a werewolf," replied Remus.

"I only got three of the identifying features," Peter said seriously.

Lily looked at him incredulously. "You're kidding. You run around…" Lily stopped abruptly and saw James subtly shaking his head. Remus, Sirius and Peter looked at her in shock. Lily quickly glanced at Carly but luckily for her Carly wasn't paying attention to anything going on around her as she had fallen asleep in the sun.

"When and how did you find out Lily?" Remus asked softly.

Lily looked at James and he nodded for her to answer.

"The night before Easter Holidays started. I was feeling violently angry at James so I was looking for something that would get him into serious trouble. I overheard James and Sirius talking about going out that night and I decided to follow. I waited that night for you three to come down, oh by the way you really should be quieter when you're under James invisibility cloak, then I followed them out to the Whomping Willow and I saw them change into animals. I watched you go into the Willow and then come back out with a wolf. That's when everything clicked into place."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

--- Last day of school ---

James snuck into Transfiguration and sat at the back of the classroom.

"Mr Potter, so glad you could join us," Professor McGonagall said. James smiled half-heartedly and sank down in his seat.

"Now this is your last class for the year but everyone is going to contribute," continued McGonagall. "Potter you can go first."

"Uh… E."

McGonagall turned back to the board and muttered, "They always go for the e."

--- Platform 9¾ ---

"Lily you ready?" asked Carly.

Lily sighed. "Yeah I guess so."

Carly nodded. "Come on. We have to take Floo powder to get home."

"Have a nice summer!" Lily and Carly yelled to the Marauders and then they were gone.

-----

**POLL: Who would make a better Romeo – James or Remus?**

**SO FAR:**

James – 7

Remus - 12


	15. They arrive

A/N: House points to anyone who can spot the 'Wicca series' reference.

Chapter 15 – They arrive

July 31st

"Guys this summer has been so unbelievably boring," said Remus.

"We should invite Carly over to stay for the rest of the summer," said Sirius. "She lives near here doesn't she?"

"Yeah about ten minutes away I think," replied James. "Pete do you have some parchment?"

-- The next morning --

Carly walked into the kitchen leaving Lily to sleep peacefully. Lily had been so different since school ended. Carly knew it was because she missed her parents. Without school work and hating James to occupy her time Lily had become very quiet and withdrawn.

Carly walked to the table and found an owl waiting for her. The owl looked somewhat familiar but Carly couldn't place it. She relieved the owl of its burden but it didn't leave. Carly opened the letter and read,

Dear Carly,

We are finding this summer increasingly boring so we are inviting you to come and stay at James' with the hope that you can make the rest of the summer more fun. See you later today hopefully. Send your answer back with Larry.

The Marauders

"Mum!" Carly yelled.

"Yes dear?" her mother Selene Belltower replied.

"Is it okay if Lily and I spend the rest of the summer at James'?" 

"Of course. If you send me a couple of owls during the time then it's fine by me."

Carly wrote a quick reply on the back of the letter and sent it off with Larry.

"Larry," said Carly. "Oh my God. Who in their right mind would name an owl Larry? I'd bet anything it was Sirius."

-- At James' --

Larry flew in the kitchen window over to Sirius. "James, Larry is back."

"Cool, read out what Carly wrote," James replied. Peter grabbed the parchment out of Sirius' hands and read out loud,

Guys,

We'll be there by eleven at the latest. See you soon.

Carly Ross

Quidditch Star Extradonaire

"We?" asked Sirius very confused.

James' eyes widened. "Lily," he said simply.

They heard a girl's voice call out from the lounge room, "HELLOO!!"

The guys ran into the lounge room to find Lily and Carly standing in front of the fireplace. "Hey guys," said Carly.

***************

Poll: Who would make a better Romeo – James or Remus

So far-

James: 9

Remus: 12


	16. Sports

Chapter 16 – Sports

After putting away all their stuff, Lily finally spoke. "So Potter you gonna show us around or what?"

Carly looked at her and smiled. 'Thank you James,' Carly said silently. 'I knew all Lily needed was something to distract her. And in Lily's mind there's nothing better than hating James.'

"Of course. Right this way mi lady." James gave a sweeping bow, nearly touching the ground with his hand. Lily scowled at him but walked out of the room anyway. 

Eventually they arrived at the library which was next to the door that led to the backyard. James was about to walk on except that Lily had walked into the library and was gazing around with widened eyes. "Wow," she said in awe. Lily began to walk around. "What kind of books are in here?" she asked.

"Mostly magic books I think. There's the possibility that there are a few novels by wizard authors," James replied.

"James if we don't grab Lily now," said Carly, "before she looses herself in here, we won't see her again for at least five hours."

"You're kidding right?" asked Peter.

"No I'm really not." Carly looked back at Lily who had already walked half way down one of the aisles. Carly ran after Lily, grabbed her arm and said, "Li you can come back later okay? We're gonna be here for another month. You have all the time in the world to go through this library. Right now James is gonna finish showing us around."

Lily just nodded as she was still gazing around in awe and amazement. The Marauders began laughing at the look on Lily's face. That snapped Lily back to reality and she glared at them. Of course knowing what Lily was like this small move immediately shut them up.

James led the group out into the "backyard". The grounds were huge. It backed onto a river and there was enough room for a Quidditch pitch and a…

"Tennis court?!" Lily looked astounded. "Potter you have a tennis court?"

"Lily dear we may be wizards but we do know about muggles."

"Sometimes I wonder if you do or not," Lily muttered. "Can you play?"

"Play what?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Tennis!"

"Oh. I'm okay."

Lily looked around the grounds again. "Excellent a Quidditch pitch," she said.

"You're going to play Quidditch on the pitch?" asked a stunned Peter.

"No I'm going to play it on the tennis court," Lily replied sarcastically. "Of course I'm going to play on the pitch."

"But… you're a girl."

Lily narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Don't you dare start with that sexist 'I'm a girl so I shouldn't play sport' bullshit cause if you do I will kill you."

Peter backed away a little and gulped. "So Potter," said Lily, bright and happy again, "Where's the cricket pitch?"

"Cric-ket? What the hell is that?"

Lily looked at James in shock. She looked around and saw that everyone except Remus was looking at her in confusion. "No way. Don't tell me you guys have never heard of England's most popular sport."

"I have," Remus spoke up.

"You have?" asked Sirius.

"How do you know about this cricky thing?" asked Carly.

"Cricket," Remus corrected. "My parents are fans of cricket. They go to see the Ashes tournament whenever they're held in England."

"Really? My dad used to be a huge fan. There was cricket paraphernalia all over his study," Lily said softly. Everyone felt uncomfortable.

"Well umm… anyone up for a game of Quidditch?" asked Carly.

- - - - - 

Lily walked into the kitchen at midday carrying her tennis racquet and wearing a white singlet and shorts. "Morning everyone!" she said. "What's for breakfast?"

"It's lunchtime Lady Lily," replied Sirius.

"I just woke up so for me it's breakfast."

"Does she always sleep till twelve?" asked Remus.

"Yep," replied Carly. "You wouldn't believe how much trouble I have getting Li up for school."

"Hey!" exclaimed Lily indignantly but she was smiling. Lily gobbled down a couple of pieces of toast then stood back up. "So who's up for some tennis?"

"I am if you teach me," replied Peter.

"Actually it would probably be better if Potter or Remus taught you 'because I suck at tennis." Lily swung her racquet around. "I'll see you guys out there."

"I'll come with you Lady Lily," said Remus. Lily bounced out of the kitchen and down the hall. Remus raised his eyebrows and Carly laughed at the expression on his face.

When Remus caught up to Lily, she was singing and dancing down the hallway using her tennis racquet as a microphone. "You are the dancing queen, young and sweet only seventeen, dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine oh yeah, you can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life, see that girl, watch that scene, digging the dancing queen."

Remus chuckled. "No offense Lily but you really can't sing."

"None taken. I know quite well that I am tone deaf. But I like singing anyway. And it's always fun to annoy people with my singing."

"You know I think us Marauders might be rubbing off on you."

"Nah. I think I might be rubbing off on you Marauders."

Remus and Lily both laughed and went to play some excellent tennis. Well okay tennis on Remus' part and bad tennis on Lily's. Of course the whole time the two of them were cracking jokes so by the time the rest of the group arrived at the tennis court, Lily was on the ground laughing her head off and Remus was using his tennis racquet to support his weight while trying hard not to fall down from laughing so hard.

"What's so funny?" asked Peter.

"I have no idea," Lily managed to get out between laughs.

"Right," said James. "So how we gonna play? Round Robin?"

- - - - -

"She shoots, she scores!" Lily yelled as she shot the Quaffle through one of the hoops that Sirius was supposed to be guarding. The Marauders, Lily and Carly were playing a modified version of Quidditch. There were three players on each team: a Chaser, a Seeker and a Keeper. Lily, Carly and Peter were against James, Sirius and Remus and so far the girls and Peter were winning by 20 points. Carly spotted the Snitch and dived for it. Remus was a second too late and then less than thirty seconds later Carly was holding the Snitch above her head. James, Remus and Sirius let out a groan simultaneously then rolled their eyes and groaned again when they saw Lily.

Lily was doing a victory dance which was a tad difficult as she was 30 feet in the air and on a broomstick. Really all she was doing was waving her arms about energetically but Lily interpreted it as a victory dance. "Woo! We won!" Lily screamed. "We're too good. Admit it. Girls are better Quidditch players. Ha ha. We won, we won, we won, we won."

"You're very humble aren't you Lily," James commented.

"Incredibly." Lily smirked then her eyes widened and she grinned as she was hit with a brilliant idea. "Carly!" Lily zoomed down to where everyone was talking on the ground. She hopped off her broom and grabbed Carly's arm.

"Carly you know what we have to do when we get back to Hogwarts?"

Carly frowned. "No what?"

"We have to set up a girl's Quidditch team."

"Oh my God you are so right."

"Hang on," said James. "How do you know you'd be able to get enough people who want to play?"

"Oh I know," replied Lily. "I'd bet anything that there is at least five girls that would want to play Quidditch."

"Are you willing to bet 100 Galleons on it?"

"I think it should be a bit more interesting than only money don't you?"

"Fine by me. If I win then you owe me 100 Galleons and you have to act like a girly girl. That includes make-up and hair." (A/N: let me make this clear. Lily isn't a tomboy she just doesn't care about make-up and she usually just has her hair in a ponytail.)

"Fine but if I win then we are going to play a little game of Quidditch. My team of girls against the Gryffindor team. Should my team win, we get to be the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

James' and Sirius' eyes widened. "You're not going to risk it are you James?" asked Sirius with a touch of fear in his voice.

"Padfoot we have one of the best Quidditch teams there is. Besides I can't back out now." James held out his hand and Lily shook it.

- - - - -

Lily, Carly and the Marauders were sitting in the lounge room after playing an extremely long game of Quidditch. The only ones who were still completely awake were James and Lily who were reading. (A/N: yeah I know James reading. The book is Quidditch through the ages okay?) James nudged Sirius who was now snoring and said, "Why don't you guys go to bed? You're all practically asleep anyway."

Peter stood up. "Yeah I think I will."

"Me too."

"Me three," said Sirius smartly.

"Me four," Carly said to keep the game going.

Lily giggled softly to herself at the stupidity of her friends. Carly looked at James and Lily. "What about you guys?" she asked. Rather than answering her, James and Lily held up their books and went back to reading.

About an hour later James was almost asleep when he felt something softly brushing against his hair. James grabbed it and turned around to find that Lily had been swinging her hand in her sleep. James smiled softly as he watched Lily and unconsciously began to rub the back of Lily's hand with his thumb. Lily smiled in her sleep as James continued and murmured very softly, "Mmm… Sirius." James dropped Lily's hand out of shock and moved back with his mouth slightly agape.

- - - - -

A/N: Wow I have over 100 reviews!! Thank you thank you thank you. *breaks into a very Andrew-like speech from Chosen* I'd just like to thank my partner in crime broadway betty, everyone who has reviewed and of course my- *gets cut off*


	17. Lily's Law and the Unknown

Chapter 17 – Lily's Law/ The Unknown

The Marauders, Lily and Carly were sitting on the pier at the back of James' house a week before they had to return to school. Carly wasn't talking much. She was happy just watching Lily talk animatedly. Carly was thinking about how big a godsend the letter from the Marauders had been. Lily was back to her old self. She was laughing, talking, getting angry at James and having an overall good time. Carly sighed contentedly. She had five great friends, she was going into her sixth year at Hogwarts and she would be sixteen in a month. Carly listened as Lily and James argued good-naturedly about feminism. Carly chuckled to herself and then spotted two owls flying towards the group.

"Hey guys look," she said as she pointed to the owls. The group looked up as the owls swooped down and dropped off twelve envelopes. Lily picked up her two letters and looked at them. One was from Hogwarts and the other was from the Ministry of Magic.

"Why would the Ministry of Magic be sending us letters?" asked Sirius voicing the question Lily was also silently asking.

"Our O.W.L. results," said Peter. They all looked at each other then ripped open the envelopes.

"Yes! Fifteen alright!" Remus yelled as he punched a fist in the air.

"Fourteen! Yippee!" Lily squealed then she got up and began dancing and jumping around.

"Yes eight," Peter said ecstatically.

"Thirteen. Excellent!" James and Sirius shouted simultaneously in a very 'Bill and Ted's excellent adventure' way.

"Yay I got twelve!" Carly jumped up and her and Lily began doing their victory dance.

When everyone had calmed down and were sitting on the pier again James said, "Hey Lady Lily, how the hell did you manage to get fourteen O.W.L.s? the only one of us who beat you was Remus and he studied for a month before O.W.L.s and as far as I know you didn't study at all."

"It looks like Lily's Law has worked wonders again eh Li?" Carly commented.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Lily's Law?" he asked. "You have your own law?"

"Yep. My law goes something along the lines of if you never study you get excellent marks. It always works for me."

"You know what James?" said Sirius. "I reckon Lily has some excellent logic there, I mean Lily beat us and she didn't study so maybe we should follow her lead. Let's stop studying. Maybe we'll get kicked out of school for excessive not studying."

"Hey that sounds like a fun experience," replied James. "Expulsion. An interesting concept."

Lily stood up. "I know that me and my law are the best. Thank you, thank you."

"Let's all bow down to the great Lady Lily," said Remus. Lily laughed as Carly and the Marauders bowed down to her. They joined in with Lily's laughter when they looked up and saw her blowing kisses imaginary to an imaginary crowd.

- - - - -

Peter walked into the library and found Lily sitting by herself staring of into space. "Hey Lily." Lily jumped at the sudden noise. "Sorry," Peter apologized sheepishly.

"It's alright I don't mind."

"What were you thinking about Lily?"

"Thinking about?"

"You were staring off into space so I assumed you were thinking."

"Oh. Right. I was just thinking about love."

Peter raised his eyebrows. "Love?"

"I was trying to figure out why people fall in love." Peter shifted in his seat. He was feeling a little uncomfortable as Lily was staring off into space again. Lily didn't notice Peter moving around and continued talking. "I never want to fall in love. Love is like taking a big leap into the unknown. Sure I like excitement and adventures but the unknown? Just stepping into that big black chasm that is the unknown? I couldn't take that risk, I'm not that brave."

"You're a Gryffindor Lily. The Sorting Hat wouldn't have put you in Gryffindor if you weren't brave."

"Oh I'm brave all right. I admit that. I coped with my parents' death and I lived with Petunia for two weeks. Both of those need a good deal of bravery. But I'm not brave enough for the unknown. And that's exactly what love is. That black hole called the unknown. And the unknown is a place I never want to go."

- - - - -

A/N: There you go. Are you happy now? I finally tied the story title into it. I'm feeling so proud of myself right now.

Poll – Final Results:

James – 12

Remus - 15 


	18. A league of their own

**_Chapter 18 – _**_A league of their own_

"Excuse me!" Lily jumped onto a table in the Gryffindor common room. "EVERYONE QUIET!" she screamed. The room fell completely silent. "Now I have an announcement for all girls from second to seventh years. Carly Ross and myself are putting together a girl's Quidditch team. We need 2 Chasers, 2 Beaters and a Keeper. Just a quick look, everyone who is interested please raise your hands."

Approximately 30 girls raised their hands. Lily and Carly grinned at each other. "James Potter you owe me 100 Galleons. I'll tell you when we're ready to play. Okay tryouts will be held this Saturday afternoon. All girls who want to play be there. Thanks." Lily jumped off the table as everyone began talking again.

"James she did it," said Sirius, "What if her team beats us?"

"I don't know Sirius. I really don't know."

- - - - -

"I'd just like to thank everyone for coming," Lily said after the tryouts. "You're all very good Quidditch players and it was very hard to pick the team. After I have announced the names I want the team and reserves to stay back to talk about training. Okay the Chasers are Miridia Smythe and Beth Maskell, 5th years. Beaters are Matilda Morgan, 5th year and Gloria O'Shea (pronounced O'Shay), 4th year. The Keeper is Sméagol Goluff, 5th year. The reserves are Jane and Mary Perkins, 4th years, Chasers. Sue Mendez, 3rd year, Beater. Sophie Roberts, 3rd year, Keeper and Anna Sommers, 3rd year Seeker. Again thanks everyone for trying out."

All the girls began leaving except the 10 that Lily had named. Carly took a step forward so that she was standing next to Lily and began speaking, "Okay you guys I'm not sure how long this will take so let's sit down so we can work everything out." They all sat down and Carly continued, "Before we move onto the mundane things like training times, Lily and I have something important to ask you."

"How would you like to be the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" asked Lily.

"You mean as in us playing the other house teams?" asked Gloria.

"That's exactly what we mean," answered Carly.

"But," said Sméagol, "what about James Potter and Sirius Black and all them? Why would they let us be the Gryffindor team instead of them?"

"This is what happened in a nutshell," answered Lily. "During summer James and I made a little bet. James didn't believe that I could get together an all girl's Quidditch team so we bet on it. If I won, which obviously I have since you guys are here, then James would have to pay me 100 Galleons and the team I got together would be able to play a game against the Gryffindor team. If the girl's team won the match then we would be the Gryffindor team and not them."

"Do you really think we could beat them?" Miridia asked a tad nervously.

"I do. With some hard training to get us working together as a team I think we would be ready to face them in a month."

"But Lily what happens when we beat them?" asked Beth concerned, "What if they refuse to let us be the Gryffindor team?"

"They can't." Lily smiled. "I've already talked to McGonagall and told her the whole thing. When we beat them if they don't willingly let us be the Gryffindor team then McGonagall will intervene. I believe McGonagall is telling the Gryffindor team this right about now."

"Okay we'll move on now that that's explained," said Carly. "We need to pick a captain."

"I think it should be Lily," said Miridia.

"So do I," added Mary. A chorus of "yeah" was then heard.

"Me? You want me to be captain?" asked Lily astounded.

"Well Li this was all your idea," replied Carly, "and you're a great Quidditch player."

"Umm okay. Wow me a captain. That's something I never thought would happen."

"Okay next thing training times. Lily and I thought it should be Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays before dinner. We'll meet at the Quidditch pitch and if it's taken then we'll move to an area on the grounds."

"This means the only thing left," said Lily, "is when we're going to play the Gryffindor team. The Quidditch season starts in October but Gryffindor's first game isn't until November. Today is the 12th of September so I thought we should verse Gryffindor on Halloween. That gives us over a month to train and if we're training three times a week, we'll be more than ready to take on Gryffindor and win. Okay that's it for today. I want to see all of you here on Monday at 4:30 on the dot. See you guys then."

- - - - -

Thursday October 29th

Lily paced in front of her team. "This is our last training session before the match. Every one of you has worked extremely hard over the past month and we have probably the best team in the school. Today I want you all to train the best you can so we can be ready on Saturday. We will beat those males on Saturday and show them that girls aren't weak little things that can't defend themselves. Okay everyone start your drills."

The four Chasers and two Keepers flew into the air to begin their passes. The Beaters stayed on the ground and began hitting Bludgers to each other. Lily threw a few golf balls to the Seekers before leaving Carly and Anna to do it themselves. Lily was about to join the Chasers and Keepers when she saw the Gryffindor team walking onto the Quidditch pitch. All the girls stopped what they were doing and were about to join Lily but Lily yelled to them, "Keep going!"

Lily turned and walked over to the Gryffindor team which was being led by James. "What are you doing here James?" Lily snarled.

"We just came to check out the competition for Saturday's match."

"Not getting scared are you Jamesie?"

"Never felt better Lady Lily." But on the inside James wasn't feeling quite so confident. He had seen Lily's team train a couple of times and they were good. Extremely good.

"You've seen us train you can go now."

"We haven't seen you in action yet Lady Lily," Sirius butted in.

"You have. You saw me play over the summer."

"We won't leave until we see you training with your team Lily."

"You get 5 minutes. When those 5 minutes are up you had all better be gone or someone will get hurt." Lily hopped on her broom and went to join her fellow Chasers.

"James this isn't good," said Tom Nation, one of the Beaters, "You've seen how good those girls are. We might not be able to beat them."

"I know," replied James.

"Why did you have to make that stupid bet anyway James?" asked Mitchell Todd, the Seeker.

"Because I never thought Lily would be able to get a team together let alone an excellent one. I should've known better than to underestimate Lily. Sirius why didn't you remind me that when Lily is determined about something she makes sure it's done?"

"Because… because… I don't know. Let's just get out of here. I'm not really in the mood for being beat up by Lily again."

- - - - -

Saturday October 31st  

Lily stole the Quaffle from James and passed it to Beth. She flew forward and called out, "Beth!" Beth passed the Quaffle and Lily caught it. They continued passing it to each other as they flew down the field. As they neared the goals Beth dropped the Quaffle to Miridia who was flying beneath Lily and Beth and Miridia scored. Sirius grabbed the Quaffle and passed it to Huck Giff the final Gryffindor Chaser. Huck was about to pass to James but was hit by a Bludger sent by Gloria. Miridia caught the Quaffle and passed to Beth but James intercepted it and began streaking towards the goals at the other end of the pitch.

James threw the Quaffle to Sirius. Sirius threw it towards the left goal post and just as it was about to go through Sméagol caught it. She threw it to Beth and Beth passed it to Lily. As Lily passed to Miridia, she was hit by a Bludger that was hit by Ben Murray. Lily yelled in pain and fell half way off her broom. James heard her and turned around to see Lily hanging off her broom, only managing to stay on by her legs which were wrapped around the handle. James watched as she pulled herself back up and continued down the pitch after Huck who had the Quaffle.

Sirius flew up next to James and said, "Lily's fine. Now concentrate if you want to stay Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."

"Right." James flew after Lily and called to Huck. Huck tried to pass to James but Beth intercepted and passed to Miridia who then passed to Lily. Lily swooped under James and headed towards the goal posts. She threw the Quaffle over the head of Mitchell Todd to Beth. Beth sped forward and easily put the Quaffle through the middle ring.

Carly saw Mitchell streaking towards the ground. Carly followed and as she neared the ground she realised there was no Snitch. 'Shit!' she thought. 'Wronski Feint.' Carly pulled herself up just in time and spotted the Snitch about 50 feet straight above her. She began flying as fast as she could straight up never once taking her eyes off the Snitch. Carly flew straight threw the Gryffindor Chasers and narrowly missed the Bludger that Matilda had hit at James. Carly kept flying. 10 feet left. She could hear Mitchell getting closer. Carly leant forward on her broom and stretched her arm. She felt the Snitch touching the tips of her fingers and lunged forward and grabbed it.

Both teams heard Madam Hooch's whistle blow to end the match. All fifteen people landed on the ground awaiting the results. "The final score is," said Madam Hooch, "Gryffindor: 160, Evans' team: 280. Evans' team is officially the new Gryffindor Quidditch team and Lily Evans is the new Quidditch Captain."

The team screamed with joy and Carly did a victory dance. Lily walked forward to talk to James.

"You played a good game Potter."

"You played a better one Evans." They grinned at each other as they began to walk towards the locker rooms. 

"You know what Malfoy is gonna say about this don't you?" James commented.

"Oh I dunno some sexist remark about how Slytherin will win the Quidditch Cup because Gryffindor no longer has a chance seeing as we're an all girl team?"

"Something along those lines. But Gryffindor has the best team in the school. It did last year, and this year it's even better. Congratulations Captain Evans."

- - - - -

A/N: It has taken me forever to write this chapter. But I'm glad it has. This chapter wouldn't have been as good if I rushed it. I hope you all like it.

Samantha 


	19. The Assignment

Chapter 19 - The Assignment  
  
"Okay class. Today we are going to start our ongoing unit about Muggle literature. At the end of this year our class will be putting on a muggle play called A Streetcar Named Desire. However to start off the unit I'd like to talk about William Shakespeare. Everyone who has heard of him raise your hand."  
  
All the students raised their hands. 'This is so boring,' thought James.  
  
"Excellent," said Professor Litana, the Muggle Studies teacher. "Who can tell me something about him?"  
  
James spoke up. "He was a wizard who lived during the 14 or 1500s and he wrote many plays of different genres."  
  
"He wasn't a wizard he was a bloody muggle!" Lily exclaimed as she turned around to look at James.  
  
"He was a wizard Lily."  
  
"No he wasn't. Just because you've heard of him doesn't make him a wizard. There's no way a wizard could write the way Shakespeare did. All the greatest authors have been muggles. Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens. All muggles."  
  
"Lily you don't get it. Shakespeare was a wizard."  
  
"No you don't get. He was a muggle. Wizards don't write good literature and I should know seeing as I've read both muggle and wizard literature."  
  
"Lily this is the last time I'm saying this. Shakespeare was a bleeding wizard."  
  
"Actually James," Litana cut in mildly, "Shakespeare was a muggle."  
  
"See?" said Lily.  
  
"Lily," said Litana in a warning tone.  
  
"Sorry Professor." As Litana explained about Shakespeare and his plays Lily turned around and stuck her tongue out at James. James glared at her then turned his attention back to Litana to make look like he was listening. For the rest of the class Litana talked about Shakespeare and how he influenced muggle literature. Just as the bell was about to go Litana announced what they would have to do for the next class.  
  
"I'm going to put you into groups and assign each group a scene from a Shakespeare play. Each group will have to learn the lines and then next week perform their interpretation of the scene. James Potter and Remus Lupin: Act 2 Scene 2 from Romeo and Juliet." Lily burst out laughing.  
  
"What's so funny Li?" asked Remus.  
  
"Nothing. Just that Act 2 Scene 2 is the balcony scene. The only characters are Romeo and Juliet which means one of you will be a girl."  
  
"May I continue Ms Evans?" asked Litana.  
  
"Of course Professor. Go right ahead," Lily answered.  
  
"Lily Evans, Julie Matthews and Belle Parle: Act 1 Scene 1 from Macbeth. Marc Stewart, Michael Andersen and Michelle Wilkins: Act 1 Scene 3 from Hamlet. Lisa McCarthy, Ben Little and Edgar Soto: Act 1 Scene 1 from Othello. Cathie Mills, William Bard, Tristan Lewis and Alisa Redcliff: Act 3 Scene 4 from Much Ado About Nothing." The bell rang and everyone began getting out of their seats.  
  
"Don't forget everyone," called Litana, "this has to be done by next week and you have to do everything the muggle way. You also need costumes. Oh and if you were given a long scene then I want you to pick a section and recite at least 30 lines."  
  
"This is gonna be so cool," Lily said to James and Remus as they walked to the Great Hall for lunch.  
  
"Remus you're playing Juliet," James said.  
  
"I don't think so Jamesie-boy. You're Juliet," Remus replied.  
  
"No way. I refuse to play a girl."  
  
"Well so do I."  
  
"Okay Moony let's let Lady Lily decide. Li you've read the whole play of Romeo and Juliet haven't you?"  
  
"Yeah. But how am I meant to decide who plays Juliet?"  
  
"Just tell us who would make the better Romeo."  
  
"Remus."  
  
"WHAT?!" James screeched.  
  
"I said Remus. Which means you're Juliet Prongs ol' man."  
  
"No. Please no. Don't make me wear a dress."  
  
"James you mightn't have to wear a dress," said Remus. "Litana said that we're performing our interpretation of the scene. We could set the scene in modern times and you could borrow a pair of Lily's jeans."  
  
"No he can't," Lily protested. "He won't fit into my clothes. He'll rip them all."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes. "Anyway you know what I mean. Besides we have a week to work it out. Now let's go eat."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Oh Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo," James read dully.  
  
Remus sighed in frustration and looked at James. "James do you wanna get a good mark for this or not?"  
  
"I really don't care if I get a bad mark. You know me Remus."  
  
"You mightn't care but I do so you're gonna be the best Juliet any one has ever seen. Got it?"  
  
James flipped through his script and squeaked, "Eek!" He looked up at Remus and said, "Uh Moony old pal, have you read the whole scene?"  
  
"Most of it. Why?"  
  
James hesitated. "Well, uhh, did you realize that Romeo and Juliet, er, kiss in this scene?"  
  
"THEY WHAT?!" A dazed look came over Remus' face and he began muttering "No way. No way."  
  
"Well didn't Litana say if it was a long scene that we would only have to do 30 lines? Let's just find 30 lines where they don't kiss."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Lily, James and Remus were sitting at their table in their costumes watching the first group perform their scene. Lily was wearing a patched robe and hat with her straight hair teased and full of knots and dirt. Remus had managed to talk Lily into letting James wear her clothes so James was currently wearing a pair of tight bootleg jeans and a pink halter-neck top. Remus simply looked normal in everyday muggle clothing.  
  
As they were watching Michelle and her group perform a scene from Hamlet, Lily began biting her lip and jiggling her leg nervously. James noticed and pointed it out to Remus. "Li are you okay?" he whispered.  
  
"I can't go up there."  
  
"But Lily you were so excited about this," Remus said.  
  
"Look at all the people in here. Litana wants us to perform in front of the whole class. I don't want to do this."  
  
"Lily you have to. We're being marked on this."  
  
Lily looked at James with scared eyes and shook her head. James sighed and glanced at Remus. "Lily we're getting group marks for this assignment. If you don't do it you're whole group will fail."  
  
Lily gulped and looked back to the front of the room where the second group was performing. Lily still had fear in her eyes and her group would be next. 'It's a bloody good thing the girls have such a short scene,' thought James. James automatically began clapping as the group walked back to their seats. James looked at Lily and saw that she was sitting rigidly in her chair with a facial expression of a frightened mouse.  
  
"Okay next up are Lily Evans, Belle Parle and Julie Matthews."  
  
Lily took a deep breath and slowly walked up to join the other girls at the front of the room. 


	20. The Performance

Chapter 20 - The Performance  
  
James and Remus continued to watch as Lily, Belle and Julie set up their cauldron and told Professor Litana how they wanted the lighting. "Do you think she'll manage?" James whispered to Remus.  
  
"Of course she will. It's Lily." Remus sounded slightly uneasy though.  
  
"You don't sound too convinced mate."  
  
Remus exchanged glances with James and they didn't need to say it out loud. They were both worried that Lily would simply back out. Although that went completely against the person they knew Lily to be, they had just seen a side to her that the two of them had never seen before. James and Remus had never seen Lily scared before. And quite frankly they never wanted to see her scared again. It freaked them out just a bit too much.  
  
The lights went down and Lily, Julie and Belle began too circle the cauldron. All of them threw things in as they walked while Remus and James watched on in apprehension. Finally after what seemed like forever although really only about a minute Lily began to speak.  
  
"When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"  
  
Belle then picked up the next line.  
  
"When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won."  
  
Finally Julie spoke her first line.  
  
"That will be ere the set of sun."  
  
James and Remus grinned as Lily really got into her character as she recited her next line.  
  
"Where the place?"  
  
As Belle came quickly with the next line in the scene Professor Litana knew she had picked the right people for the witches.  
  
"Upon the heath."  
  
Julie sounded particularly sinister as she brought in the title character of the play.  
  
"There to meet with Macbeth."  
  
Lily looked up towards the ceiling while still circling the cauldron as she said,  
  
"I come, Graymalkin!"  
  
Belle threw her last ingredient into the cauldron.  
  
"Paddock calls."  
  
Julie called out,  
  
"Anon."  
  
The three witches stopped walking and joined hands. They spoke the final lines as smoke began billowing out of the cauldron.  
  
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air."  
  
James and Remus began clapping and cheering as the lights came back on. "Encore, encore," they called out. Lily smiled as she sat back down next to them.  
  
"I think that went pretty good," she said.  
  
"Pretty good? I think you did great," commented Remus.  
  
"I never knew you could sound so evil and Slytherin Lily," said James.  
  
"That's how the witches are meant to sound. Besides I can be very evil I want to be."  
  
"Just don't start another prank war with your evil ways," replied James. "I don't think my hair could handle it," he added with a wink.  
  
Lily laughed and quipped back, "Yeah well, can't wait to see you act like a girl Potter. Oh wait you already do that."  
  
"She got you mate," laughed Remus.  
  
"Lastly we have Remus Lupin and James Potter doing Romeo and Juliet," announced Litana.  
  
"Here we go," said James. James went to pick up a very big piece of painted cardboard while Remus brought a wooden ladder out of the storeroom. As James set up Remus told Litana that the only lighting they wanted was a spotlight on James and nothing else. James ascended the ladder but stayed a few steps below the top so that he wasn't visible behind the cardboard.  
  
Remus walked over to the side of the room as he prepared to give his first line.  
  
"He jests at scars that never felt a wound."  
  
James climbed the last few steps and gently leaned on the cardboard with his cheek resting on his hand. Remus continued to speak.  
  
"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious;"  
  
Remus began to slowly walk towards the other side of the classroom where the cardboard wall, ladder and James were.  
  
"Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it."  
  
'This spot light is bloody hot,' thought James as Remus continued his soliloquy. 'Hurry it up Remus.'  
  
"I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks: Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,"  
  
'Who would've known Remus would turn out to make an alright Romeo?' Lily pondered as Remus delivered his next lines.  
  
"As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!"  
  
'About bloody time Moony old' boy,' James thought as he took a breath to say his two lines.  
  
"Ay me!"  
  
'Did James just have a female voice or am I imagining things?' Lily wondered as Remus again began speaking.  
  
"She speaks: O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head As is a winged messenger of heaven"  
  
Remus had reached the base of the cardboard and he looked up at James as he delivered his last lines.  
  
"Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air."  
  
James inwardly grinned about being so close to being out of the spotlight. He heaved a girly sigh and then spoke the final lines of the section of their scene in a rather believable female voice.  
  
"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet."  
  
James gave Remus the thumbs up as the lights came back on and got down off the ladder. Remus and James plopped themselves down in seats next to where Lily was sitting stunned. "Remus how did you remember so many lines?" Lily asked, incredulous. "And James if I didn't know better and you had been wearing a wig I would've thought you were a girl."  
  
"My mum and I used to make up voices when I was little. I managed to perfect a female voice," replied James.  
  
Lily suddenly started laughing. "I thought the day I saw James in girl's clothes would be the day pigs fly."  
  
"That can easily be arranged you know," Remus said with a grin.  
  
"Oh shut up smart arse, it's a muggle phrase." 


	21. Black Desires

Chapter 21 - Black Desires  
  
Christmas was fast approaching and the school had settled into it's routine. The Quidditch Cup was well underway. Gryffindor had won its first game against Hufflepuff, showing the male population of the school just how good girls could be when given the chance, and was now coming second with Ravenclaw in first place.  
  
The sixth year Muggle Studies students had been given their marks back for their plays. Lily and her group did well getting 16/20 while James and Remus had managed full marks with their rendition of Romeo and Juliet. Everything at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was running smoothly for once.  
  
Sirius was on his way to the common room after dinner one night towards the end of November when Snape suddenly blocked his path. 'Oh goodie,' thought Sirius sarcastically. 'It's Snivelly the grease-ball again.'  
  
"Black," Snape greeted Sirius almost cordially.  
  
"Snivellus," Sirius replied in the same manner.  
  
"You know Black the Gryffindor Quidditch team is quite interesting. Have you all become so crap that you have to let females play for you? The almighty James Potter hasn't gone soft has he? Or worse yet, he wouldn't happen to be I don't know gay, and that could be affecting his game. What about you Black? You willingly gave up your spot to a girl who is two years younger than you. Ross isn't too bad for a muggle-lover. I hear she's quite easy." Snape put emphasis on the word 'easy.' "And what about that Captain of yours? Who decided that the mudblood would be Captain? Perhaps it was Potter the fairy."  
  
Sirius began to growl at Snape. "You'd better shut your mouth now Snivelly if you know what's good for you."  
  
Snape didn't pay any attention to Sirius' words or hands, which were clenched, into fists. "And what about Lupin?" Snape lowered his voice, "I know what he is I just have to prove and then he'll be out of this school before you can say 'werewolf.'"  
  
Lily walked around the corner just in time to hear what Sirius said next. "Snape you snoop around too much but one day you will get what you deserve. You really wanna know where Remus goes every month? Then go to the Whomping Willow at 10 o'clock, pick up the long stick on the ground and press the knot on the trunk of the tree."  
  
Lily quickly walked back the way she came without Snape or Sirius noticing that she had been there. 'Sirius you idiot, what have you done?' she thought. Lily looked at the watch she was wearing. The time currently said 8:15. 'I have to find James,' was Lily's final thought before she took off running down the halls.  
  
Lily began searching everywhere that James could possibly be. She checked the Great Hall first in hopes that he was among the last dregs of people at dinner but with no luck. She then continued to try the Astronomy Tower, the North Tower, the Gryffindor common room, a lot of the unlocked classrooms and even the dungeons.  
  
Lily finally found James in the library, the last place she thought she would find him and by this point it was 9:50. Lily strode over to where James was working and almost collapsed from all the running. "James," she panted, "Sirius told Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow."  
  
James jumped out of his seat. "But it's the full moon. Bloody hell Sirius. Lily go tell Dumbledore then get back to Gryffindor Tower."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Just do it!" With that James went streaking out of the library and through the empty stone corridors. 'Sirius you idiot, what have you done?' he thought as he ran towards the Entrance Hall.  
  
Fifteen minutes later James neared the Whomping Willow just as Snape walked through the gap. "Snape don't!" James yelled but it was too late. Snape was already in the tunnel towards the Shrieking Shack.  
  
James sprinted after him and managed to catch up to Snape and grab the back of his robes when they were only a few metres away from the door. "Snape there's a full grown werewolf behind that door. If you open it we'll both die," James tried to explain to Snape. Snape pulled himself out of James' tight grasp and continued to walk towards the door.  
  
"Snape no!" Snape didn't listen and began to reach towards the doorknob. James pulled out his wand and screamed, "Petrificus Totalus!" Snape fell forward and hit his head on the door making Remus, who was directly behind the door, growl and start banging the door from his side. James quickly changed into a stag and picked up Snape in his antlers and turned to head back through the passage. He didn't want to think what might happen if Remus managed to break the door down. It hadn't happened yet but James didn't want to be there holding Snape if it did.  
  
James changed back to human right before he and Snape emerged from the tree. James had the feeling that Dumbledore was already there, and giving away the fact that he was an illegal Animagus would definitely qualify as a dumb idea. 'Then again what Sirius did tonight was dumb as well,' James thought as he and Snape popped out of the tree to see Dumbledore waiting for them.  
  
James laid Snape on the ground in front of Dumbledore and reversed the spell. Snape stood up and scowled at both James and Dumbledore. James glared back then turned to Dumbledore. "You saw Lily?" he asked.  
  
"I did," replied Dumbledore. "Mr Black is waiting in my office."  
  
"And Lily is back in the common room?"  
  
"She is. And that is also where you are going now Mr Potter. Mr Snape shall accompany me to my office."  
  
"Okay. Good night Professor." James knew there was no point arguing. James would hear it all from Sirius. Or if he didn't he would make Sirius tell him. Along with giving Sirius a piece of his mind.  
  
Sirius trudged into the boy's dorm quite a while later. He found James pacing around the room and Peter sleeping with his curtains shut. Sirius assumed that Peter had also put a Silencing Spell on them. For some reason unknown to the others Peter had taken to doing it every night.  
  
James turned around when Sirius entered the room and just watched as Sirius walked over to his bed and sat down. "I got a two week suspension," he said simply.  
  
"Good."  
  
Sirius stared at James in shock. "What!"  
  
"What the hell were you thinking Sirius?"  
  
"He was talking crap about all of us. He called you gay, Lily a mudblood and Carly easy. Snape deserved it."  
  
"You mean he deserved to be eaten by Remus? Couldn't you have thought of something that didn't involve Remus and giving away his secret? How do you think Remus will feel when he finds out what you did and how close he came to killing someone?"  
  
"I guess I didn't think."  
  
"You're bloody well right you didn't think. If Lily hadn't found me imagine what would've happened."  
  
"Lily?"  
  
"Yeah Lily. She overheard you telling Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow so she came looking for me. Why couldn't you have just beaten him up like you usually do? At least you would've only gotten detentions instead of being suspended Sirius." James sighed. He'd said what he had to say. "When are you leaving?"  
  
"In the morning."  
  
James nodded. "What happened to Snape?"  
  
"He was given two months of detention and was strictly forbidden not to tell anyone about Remus."  
  
"Right I'm going to bed."  
  
"Good night James."  
  
James didn't reply. Instead he got into his four-poster and didn't say another to Sirius. As Sirius hopped into bed he thought, 'Sirius you idiot, what have you done?' 


	22. Propaganda

Chapter 22 - Propaganda  
  
During the two weeks that Sirius was gone Remus was furious. He would sit by himself for hours on end brooding. By the time the two weeks were up he had become strangely calm. The day Sirius returned the two of them went off somewhere together to talk. No one ever found out what was said but when they came back they were the best of friends again.  
  
The next morning Lily sat down for breakfast beside Carly and took out her homework that she had "forgotten" to do. Lily glanced up realizing that the Marauders weren't laughing and joking around like they did every morning. Peter was busy eating, Sirius and Remus looked like someone had died for some reason and James was reading the newspaper.  
  
Lily did a double take. "Never seen you read the paper before James," she commented as she snatched it off him.  
  
"Never seen you read one either," James replied in a deadpan voice.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said Lily offhandedly.  
  
Lily glanced at the front page and read the headline that said, "Voldemort: An Issue?" She looked up and asked, "What's a Voldemort?"  
  
Carly shrugged and looked at the barely started homework. "You didn't do your homework again did you Li?"  
  
Lily looked sheepish. "Umm... no?"  
  
"You never learn do you Lily?" Carly rolled her eyes and went back to her breakfast.  
  
Meanwhile James, Sirius and Remus had been communicating with their eyes. Remus made the decision and murmured, "James you should tell her."  
  
Lily looked up from her homework again and inquired, "Tell who what?"  
  
"Tell you about Voldemort," Sirius stated.  
  
"Voldemort? Oh right the headline."  
  
"Are you feeling especially dumb today Lily?" asked James.  
  
"Hey shut up I just woke up. So? Tell me."  
  
"Not here. Meet me at the North Tower at lunch."  
  
"Lunch?" Lily looked partially distraught. "But food." James gave Lily a look. "Fine." Lily pouted.  
  
During the morning Lily forgot about Voldemort and meeting James at lunch. When the bell went at the end of Potions Lily and Carly walked out of the dungeon chatting. Lily felt something niggling at the back of her brain but she ignored it. As they reached the Entrance Hall Lily gave in and said, "I get the feeling there's somewhere I'm meant to be."  
  
"You're meant to be in the North Tower with James," called out a voice from behind. Lily and Carly turned and saw Remus, Peter and Sirius moving towards them.  
  
"Oh so you and James have a lunch date, eh?" said Carly slyly.  
  
"Shut up Caroline." Carly glowered at Lily but Lily ignored her.  
  
"But guys I need food," she whined.  
  
"I'm sure Prongs has taken care of that," Peter said as Lily began to walk away from them towards the nearest stairway.  
  
Lily sighed as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at them despairingly. "Lily go!" Sirius, Remus and Peter all shouted at her.  
  
"I'm going. I'm going," she mumbled in irritation as she ascended the stairs.  
  
Lily was panting by the time she reached the top of North Tower. She breathed in deeply then noticed James sitting on the floor with a basket next to him. Lily glared at him weakly but James just smiled and opened the basket to show the food and drinks inside.  
  
Lily's eyes widened in delight and gratitude. She dived onto the basket and sculled down half a bottle of water in one go. "You couldn't have asked me to wait for you after Potions and then we could find an empty dungeon," she said through mouthfuls of chocolate and meat pie.  
  
James raised his eyebrows at how quickly Lily was eating. "I didn't want to alert attention and since no one ever comes up here unless it is absolutely necessary it seemed the perfect spot." James paused and then finished with amusement, "I would tell you to hurry up but since you're already speed eating-"  
  
Lily scowled at him and James broke down in laughter. "You should see your face," he cried. James watched with mirth as Lily continued to eat, a little more sedately now that her hunger was dying down.  
  
When Lily finally finished James became serious. "Okay Li you wanted to know what Voldemort is." Lily nodded as she opened another bottle of water. "First off Voldemort is a dark wizard," James started but Lily interrupted him.  
  
"But why hasn't anyone heard of him? Why didn't anyone seem to care about the front page of the Prophet?"  
  
"I'll get to that alright?" Lily nodded again as she took another gulp of water. She could tell that something extremely serious was going on.  
  
James took a breath and then continued. "A couple of years ago Voldemort began recruiting followers. That's when the murders started. Wizards didn't pay any attention to it because the victims were English muggles who had been shot. Muggles just assumed it was the Irish. But when my da saw it on the VT-"  
  
"TV," Lily automatically corrected.  
  
"Right TV, he became suspicious. Da went over to the police stations to have a look at the guns. I'm not sure how he actually got to look at the guns but when he did Da realized he was right. The guns had been charmed. He looked into it at the Ministry and found out about Voldemort and that the Ministry had been covering him up so no one would find out.  
  
"It wasn't until last year that he started focusing on muggle-borns. Before that the muggle murders had just been for fun apparently. Everything gets hidden from the public now. The Ministry says it's because they want to protect people when really they just don't want everyone to panic and riot against them. That's why there's been nothing in the papers until now and also why you won't see anything in the papers again for a long time.  
  
"It's Ministry propaganda Lily. They tell you about something important once and make it seem like nothing so that you forget about it and do nothing about anything."  
  
Lily sat thinking for a few minutes while James watched her sadly. 'Lily's smart,' he thought. 'It won't take her long to figure it out.'  
  
Lily suddenly stared at James. "You said Voldemort focused on muggle- borns," she said. "What did you mean by that?"  
  
"Voldemort or one of his lackeys, more likely the lackeys, charm a gun to shoot the muggle-born's parents. The Ministry then sends a letter of condolence claiming that a serial killer has murdered their parents," James explained dully without looking Lily in the eye.  
  
Lily gasped and her eyes began to well up with tears. "You mean that bastard killed my parents?" Lily questioned furiously.  
  
James nodded and shrank the basket and put it in his pocket. The bell went to signal the end of lunch just as Lily's angry tears spilled over. James opened his arms and Lily crawled over and sobbed onto his shoulder.  
  
Ten minutes later Lily started hiccupping as the rest of the Gryffindors arrived for Divination. "I swear, one day I will destroy that bastard," Lily whispered more to herself than anyone else, but James heard and he remembered Lily's promise. 


	23. Meet me at the Yule Ball

Chapter 23 - Meet Me At The Yule Ball  
  
The first Hogsmeade weekend had arrived and the Hogwarts students from third year and up were milling around the small wizarding village. Lily and Carly were in Gladrags Designer Robes trying to find the perfect dress robes for Carly. As they walked around the popular shop Carly again brought up a subject that Lily didn't want to talk about.  
  
"Lily why won't you come to the Yule Ball?" she asked.  
  
"Because I don't want to!" Lily exclaimed in exasperation. They had already been over this five times since the ball had been announced.  
  
"Li is it because you don't have a date? I don't have one either. We can go together."  
  
"Car it's not because I don't have a date. Who needs one? If I wanted to go to the ball I'd gladly go by myself. I just don't want to go okay?"  
  
Carly sighed. She knew she wasn't going to win this battle any time soon. Carly picked up a few robes that she liked. "Li I'm going to go try these on."  
  
"Fine. I'm gonna go over to the bookshop for a while. I'll meet you and the guys back at The Three Broomsticks like we decided this morning."  
  
When Carly finally found the perfect robes for her she paid for them and walked over to The Three Broomsticks. She was the first from their group to arrive so she found a table and sat down to wait for the others.  
  
James, having finished his Christmas shopping, walked into The Three Broomsticks and shook the snow off himself. He noticed Carly sitting by herself and went to sit with her. James took a breath as he tried to work up his courage. Carly tilted her head slightly and looked at him curiously. "Are you okay James?" she asked.  
  
He let out his breath and said, "Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"  
  
Carly raised her eyebrows at him in surprise. "As a friend?"  
  
"Not as my friend, as my date."  
  
"You mean-"  
  
"What I'm saying is will you be my girlfriend?"  
  
"I'd love to."  
  
James and Carly grinned stupidly at each other. At this point Lily, Sirius, Remus and Peter walked into The Three Broomsticks and spotted Carly and James. "Hey guys!" Lily called out brightly to them.  
  
Carly jumped up as they reached the table. "Lily I have to talk to you." Carly grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her towards the bathrooms. Remus, Sirius and Peter gave James curious looks as they sat down. James simply shrugged in response.  
  
In the ladies toilet Carly was talking a mile a minute and Lily couldn't understand a thing she said. "Carly! Slow down! Breathe. Now start again slowly."  
  
"James asked me out. He asked me to go to the Yule Ball with him and to be his girlfriend." Carly squealed as she finished. Lily could tell that her best friend was excited but Lily was slightly more cautious.  
  
"Carly I don't want to sound negative but are you sure about this? I mean James is a great guy and you know I like him but he also has a reputation. You know as well as I do what he used to be like."  
  
"Li he's changed. You know that. Please can you be happy for me?"  
  
Lily gave Carly a reluctant smile and said, "Sure."  
  
Carly grinned and squealed with delight. She grabbed Lily's arm again and dragged her back to the table where the boys were drinking butterbeers. Lily sat down and watched James. James felt her gaze and looked her slightly uneasy.  
  
As the group of six were leaving about an hour later Lily stopped James. The others walked on without noticing that Lily and James had stopped. "You had better not hurt her James Zacharias Potter. You will pay if you do. Carly is my best friend so if you've decided to go back to your old flavour- of-the-week ways and simply use her I will hurt you. I'm making that a promise."  
  
"Li I really like Carly. I'm not about to hurt her or drop her the way you think I am."  
  
"Good." Lily smiled brightly and slipped her arm through his. "We'd better catch up to the others."  
  
"You know Lily your sudden mood swings can sometimes be scary. You're brilliant. But scary."  
  
"I know." Lily smiled at him again as they rejoined the group.  
  
A week later Remus, Sirius and Lily were sitting around the common room fire doing homework. Sirius and Remus had talked her into it three hours beforehand but since Lily had caused them to procrastinate so much they were still only up to their second piece of homework.  
  
James and Carly traipsed into the common room laughing at each other. They stopped in the middle of the room and started kissing. Sirius shook his head and sighed while Lily rolled her eyes in disgust. She packed up her things and walked past James and Carly to get to the staircase. "Oh get a room," she muttered in annoyance as she past them.  
  
James and Carly stopped kissing to look at her in surprise at the way Lily was acting. Lily ignored them and walked up to the girl's dorm. Carly and James moved to the couch that Lily had vacated and sat down. "What's up with Lily?" James asked.  
  
"Sorry mate," Remus replied, "wouldn't know."  
  
Three days before the Yule Ball Sirius flopped down next to Lily, who was reading for about the billionth time Pride and Prejudice. "I'm exhausted Lady Lily. Thank God it's holidays now."  
  
Lily looked at him in amusement. "You work yourself way too hard Siri," she said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh like you're such a hard worker yourself Miss Evans?"  
  
"Of course I am. How else would I be so good at school?"  
  
Sirius merely rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I actually took the time to come down here for a reason."  
  
"Really? Did you actually have a thought? Should I mark down this date in history in case it never happens again?"  
  
"You blow me away with your sarcasm Lily. But anyway what I wanted to know is if you'll go to the ball?"  
  
"How many times do I have to tell people that I'm not going?"  
  
"Yes, yes I know you don't want to go but I'll provide compensation?"  
  
"Oh really? And what kind of compensation would that be Mr Black?"  
  
"Well you see Miss Evans I was hoping to pull quite a huge prank. But the problem is I don't know what to do. Nothing I can think is wide scale enough."  
  
"Hmm. Well how about getting everyone drunk? Using muggle alcohol?"  
  
"Now there's an idea. But how are we going to get muggle alcohol when the ball is in three days?"  
  
Lily grinned and looked around for a piece of parchment. Having found one she pulled a pen out of her hair and wrote a quick letter. She folded it up and placed it in an envelope.  
  
"What did you write?" asked Sirius.  
  
"A letter to my cousin Mel. He's a wizard too. We're the only ones in the family with magic. But anyway. He's old enough to buy alcohol. So I asked him to buy us some beer. I know he will. He's cool like that."  
  
"So it sounds like you'll be coming to the ball after all."  
  
"Looks like it." Lily grinned then realized something. "Oh no. I don't have robes."  
  
"What about what you wore last year?"  
  
"Are you kidding? You don't wear the same dress to two things. You just don't do it. Besides what I wore last year was an evening gown. Muggle formal wear. I need to get dress robes. Sirius you have to get me into Hogsmeade tomorrow."  
  
"But Lily that's against the rules."  
  
"Don't you try to play innocent with me Sirius Black. I know you. And I know you know where the secret passageways out of the castle are. So you are going to show me how to get to Hogsmeade or else you don't get any alcohol."  
  
Sirius sighed. "Fine. You can be a real bitch sometimes Lily."  
  
"Yeah. But you guys know you love me."  
  
Right before the ball was due to start Sirius and Lily snuck into the Great Hall and over to the refreshments table carrying the three cases of Fosters beer that Lily's cousin Mel had sent them. Apparently Mel was currently working in Australia and according to him had found a beer that was better than Guinness.  
  
"Okay where's the butterbeer?" asked Sirius.  
  
"There." Lily pointed to a large cask. "Where are we going to put all the butterbeer?"  
  
"In here." Sirius pulled out a small box. It was a never-ending box. Only recently released at Dervish and Bangs.  
  
"Excellent."  
  
Sirius placed the box under the spout and Lily turned it on. She looked at her watch and swore under her breath. "The ball starts in fifteen minutes. We need it to go faster. Okay I know. Let's get all the beer cans open so we'll be ready."  
  
As the last dregs of the butterbeer poured out Lily and Sirius had opened 12 of the 24 cans. Together they began to pour it all in into the cask. When they had poured in 10 cans the cask was full. "We need more casks. A lot more casks."  
  
Sirius turned around and transfigured some chairs into what Lily wanted. "Thanks Sirius. Now let's hurry. We only have a few minutes left."  
  
They finished just in time. Sirius and Lily snuck back out of the Great Hall and joined the gathering crowds in the Entrance Hall. They high-fived then saw Remus and his Ravenclaw date and went to join them. Carly, James, Peter and his date met up with them a few minutes later. When the students were allowed inside Lily, Carly, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and their dates Melanie and Scarlett went straight to the "butterbeer".  
  
They all poured themselves a glass and raised them together. "Cheers." They all took a sip and smiled. 'Mmm good choice Mel,' thought Lily.  
  
"You know this tastes different to butterbeer," said James. "It tastes great, just different." The others nodded their agreement while Sirius and Lily exchanged glances. Carly, James, Remus, Melanie, Peter and Scarlett went to find somewhere to eat while Lily turned to Sirius.  
  
"I propose a toast," she said. "Here's to drunken fun."  
  
"Cheers to that," Sirius replied cheerfully.  
  
For most of the night Lily and Sirius hung out near the refreshment table. During the night McGonagall staggered over to them. "Why aren't you two out on the dance floor?" she slurred slightly. "As I recall we couldn't get you off it last year."  
  
Lily tried to stifle her laughter as Sirius snorted into his beer. "Umm Professor," said Lily, "I think you might have had a bit too much butterbeer."  
  
McGonagall wasn't paying attention and stumbled away to talk to other students. Lily and Sirius burst into laughter. When they had calmed down Lily thought of something. "Hey Padfoot how come you didn't have a date?"  
  
"Ugh. If I came with a date then she would be fawning all over me all night constantly asking why I got suspended and how it makes me so mysterious. Too annoying for my taste. Besides you already know why I was suspended and you helped me out with the prank. You're a lot more fun than most of the girls at this school Lady Lily."  
  
"Go team me," Lily smiled. "So how many people do you think will be drunk by the end of the night?"  
  
"Oh I'd say close to everyone here."  
  
After the ball had finished Lily, Carly and the Marauders were sitting around the fire in the common room. "You know I'm still curious about that butterbeer," Remus said.  
  
Lily and Sirius grinned. "You guys really want to know what was up with the butterbeer?" asked Sirius.  
  
"What did you two do?" Peter queried with caution.  
  
"Oh we just replaced a few things," Lily replied vaguely.  
  
"A few things?" James raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Do you wanna tell them Sirius or will I?"  
  
"Oh I think you should Lady Lily. It was your idea after all."  
  
"Okay so a few nights ago Sirius convinced me to go to the ball by saying he wanted my help with a prank."  
  
"I was wondering why you'd changed your mind Li," said Carly.  
  
"Yep. Anyway he couldn't think of anything big enough. So I suggested that we get everyone drunk. So I wrote to my cousin Mel and he sent us back a heap of Fosters. It's Australian muggle beer. Tonight before the ball started we snuck in and switched the butterbeer with real beer." Lily looked at the others with pride.  
  
"Well that explains why McGonagall was acting so weird," James commented. The six of them laughed at the memory of McGonagall walking unsteadily around the Great Hall and slurring her words. They sat around until dawn chatting and laughing the friends always do. 


	24. Everyday Life

Chapter 24 - Everyday Life  
  
Sunday  
  
The Marauders were hanging around near the lake talking when Sirius brought up an interesting topic that hadn't been discussed for quite sometime. "So guys when's our next Hogsmeade trip?"  
  
"I don't think we should have our trip on a week night," said James.  
  
"Same here," Remus agreed. "The teachers are already suspicious of you mate. They have been since the end of November."  
  
"Since weeknights are out, how about Saturday night?" Peter piped up.  
  
"Brilliant mate!" Sirius grinned at them and was about to continue when James stopped him and motioned towards Lily and Carly who were walking towards them.  
  
Lily and Carly sat down with the Marauders and smiled. "So what have you guys been talking about?" Carly asked them.  
  
"Oh just how gorgeous you look today," James cooed at her.  
  
"Aww that's so sweet," Carly replied while Lily was gagging.  
  
Lily scooped up some of the snow. As James and Carly were about to kiss Lily said to them, "You guys are so sickeningly sweet. It's making me nauseous." Lily then threw the snow at them. She jumped up and began to run anticipating James and Carly's retaliatory actions. It erupted into a snowball war and the six friends ended up soaked to the bone.  
  
Monday  
  
James, Remus and Lily were bored out of their minds. They were listening to Litana drone on about something called electricity. "Okay class. I've decided who will have what parts in A Streetcar Named Desire," Litana announced unexpectedly. Lily, James and Remus all sat up straighter and were suddenly very attentive.  
  
"As I call out the parts make sure you write them down. Stanley will be played by James Potter and his wife Stellar will be Lily Evans." At this remark there were some catcalls and wolf whistles. Lily and James both glared at the people doing it while Remus looked slightly amused with the whole situation.  
  
When everyone had calmed down again Litana continued. "Blanche will be Alisa Redcliff, Mitch is Remus Lupin, Eunice will be performed by Belle Parle, Marc Stewart will be playing Steve, Michael Andersen is Pablo, Edgar Soto is the Doctor, Julie Matthews will be the Matron, Cathie Mills will play the Spanish flower seller and William Bard will be the paper boy. Anyone who doesn't have a part will be helping out behind the scenes with costumes, props and backdrops. We will only be working on the play one lesson a week so make sure you learn your lines and do the work asked."  
  
As Litana moved onto another subject Lily whispered to James and Remus, "Wow guys we got three of the biggest parts in the play. But eww I have to James' wife?"  
  
"Hey I'm very marriable," James protested.  
  
"Sorry but I just can't picture you as married Prongsy boy. And I don't wanna have to kiss you. You're dating my best friend."  
  
The bell went and everyone stood to leave. "Well see you guys," said Lily, "I gotta go have fun in Arithmancy. A nice fun sleep."  
  
Remus and James laughed at her and then began walking to Care of Magical Creatures.  
  
Tuesday  
  
"Please Lily. Come on please let me do this," James pleaded.  
  
"No. How many times do I have to say this James? It's a team training session. You practice by yourself another time."  
  
"Lily don't be so mean. Please just let me train with the Gryffindor team."  
  
Sirius then joined in. "Yeah Lily. We haven't had a decent game of Quidditch in ages. If you let us train with the team we'll be able to keep our reflexes sharp."  
  
"Oh so it's all about you?" asked Lily. "The universe revolves around you does it?"  
  
"Yep." Sirius smiled his 'charming' smile.  
  
"My answer is still no."  
  
"But Lily-"  
  
Lily sighed. "You know what? Fine. If it gets you to shut up then fine you can. But just you two and only this one time."  
  
"Great!" exclaimed James. "We'll be there on Thursday."  
  
James spotted Carly coming down the stairs into the common room. "Hey babe!" Carly looked up and smiled sweetly at him. "Come with me." James took her hand and grabbed his broomstick from the floor.  
  
James and Carly walked outside into the cold, wintry night air. James wrapped his arms around Carly's waist and from behind he whispered in her ear. "Care for a moonlight ride my sweet?" he said huskily.  
  
Carly shivered with delight. She left the warmth of James' embrace and climbed onto the broom. James slipped on behind her and took control of the broom. Carly leant back against James' chest as they flew above Hogwarts. Carly felt so comfortable and content in James' arms that she secretly wished that it could always be like this.  
  
"It's so beautiful up here James," Carly whispered so she wouldn't break the spell that had fallen over the world.  
  
"I know," he replied. "I sometimes like to come up here to think."  
  
Carly looked at James' face in the moonlight. She smiled softly. "Thank you for showing me."  
  
Wednesday  
  
Lily and Carly were mixing their Veritaserum in Potions when Lily felt someone watching her. She looked around and saw Lucius Malfoy staring at her. Lily scowled at him then turned back to her potion. She turned slightly to Carly and whispered from the corner of her mouth, "Is Malfoy still watching me?"  
  
Carly glanced subtly over her shoulder and then nodded in the affirmative. "What's going on Li?"  
  
"I don't know. All lesson it's felt like someone was watching me and when I looked around I found out it was Malfoy. What the hell is he doing?"  
  
Carly glanced at Malfoy again. "Well he's still staring at you. He's not even blinking."  
  
Lily shuddered. "That's just way too freaky."  
  
"You should have finished your potion by now," Professor Wilson the Potions teacher called out. "Bottle it up and place it on my desk to be marked. Then wait for the bell to go."  
  
"Hey James," Remus said to James as they bottled their potion, "did you notice anything about Malfoy during lesson?"  
  
"No why?"  
  
"He was staring at Lily the whole time."  
  
James almost dropped his vial. "What!"  
  
"I know. Weird. And Lily looks a bit freaked out by it."  
  
"I wonder what's up with Malfoy. He must be planning something. Why else would he stare at Li?"  
  
The bell went and Lily and Carly gathered up their stuff and left to go to Ancient Runes. As they passed Malfoy they both gave him the finger and glared at him. All Malfoy did in reply was smirk at them.  
  
While Professor Miller was explaining about the original Celtic runes, Carly looked over at Malfoy. 'Shit,' she thought when she saw him staring at Lily intently. 'What the hell is he trying to do?'  
  
'Lily, Malfoy is still watching you' Carly wrote on a scrap of parchment then slid it across the desk to Lily. Lily's expression darkened and she glanced up to find Malfoy watching her again. Malfoy raised his eyebrows at her but didn't look away. Lily found a spare piece of parchment and wrote 'FUCK OFF' on it then held it up for Malfoy to see. Malfoy simply sneered at her.  
  
When the bell went to signal the beginning of lunch Lily escaped the classroom as quickly as possible. She practically ran to the Great Hall to find the Marauders deep in discussion. Lily heard a few words and realized they were planning a trip to Hogsmeade for Saturday night. She stormed over to them and flopped down into a seat next to James. The boys looked at her startled.  
  
"You know guys," Lily said, "I've been having a really crappy day. First Malfoy stares at me all through Potions and Ancient Runes and now I find out that you four are planning a trip to Hogsmeade without informing me and Carly. You know it's not a smart idea to get on the wrong side of your only friends. Cause you know Carly won't be happy when she hears about this. She'll be especially pissed at you James."  
  
"Oh ah I guess we just thought that you and Carly wouldn't want to come," Peter improvised.  
  
"I don't really care what you thought. You four are gonna take me and Carly out to Hogsmeade with you because Sirius and James owe me for letting them train with the Gryffindor team tomorrow."  
  
"What's this I hear about going out?" Carly asked as she sat down.  
  
"The guys are taking us to Hogsmeade on Saturday night," Lily replied.  
  
"Groovy. I can't wait. I know exactly what I should wear."  
  
The Marauders sat there gob-smacked. They weren't quite sure what to say about anything.  
  
Thursday  
  
Lily was giving her team the pre-training psyche-up speech when James and Sirius arrived. Lily heard them approach and turned to tell them to get into line. What she saw left her stunned. James and Sirius had arrived with the rest of the previous Gryffindor team.  
  
Lily walked up to them and said, "What are you doing? I said you two only."  
  
James and Sirius both looked incredibly sheepish. They glanced at each other before James replied, "Uh yeah about that. Well me and Sirius were sort of talking about coming to training and a couple of the guys overheard and word got around. They all asked if they could come and I kind of said yes."  
  
Lily grunted in exasperation. "Fine they can stay. But I'm captain so they do exactly what I say when I say it. If they don't want a girl telling them what to do or don't like it then they can leave. Got it?" Lily looked at all the members of the previous team. They all nodded slightly afraid of the average sized redhead.  
  
Lily walked back to her team and the boys followed her. "Okay everyone start your drills." The girls mounted their brooms and began doing what they did every training session. Lily turned to the boys and said, "Right this is what's going to happen. Chasers and Keeper will go join my Chasers and Keepers. Beaters will join my three Beaters. The Seeker will join Carly and Anna with the golf balls. The girls will explain what you're meant to do. When drills are over the mock game will start. Now go." All the males except James mounted their brooms and went to join their female counterparts.  
  
"Merlin Lily you're a bloody drill sergeant," James commented.  
  
"Yeah. But my team's happy."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"Take a look at them. They're happy and chatting and laughing and yet they're still going through the drills properly the way I want them to and they work hard. Now are you gonna train or are you gonna continue to question my methods?"  
  
"Let's do the drills Sergeant Evans."  
  
That was one of the best training session either team had ever had. The girls had worked harder than ever to continue to prove that they were just as good as the boys and the boys had simply been happy to play a good game of Quidditch again.  
  
"You know we should do this again guys," Lily said at the end. "Not a regular thing but every once in a while to keep all of us sharp. Males and females."  
  
Friday  
  
As James was walking to lunch he happened to see a blonde head up ahead. "Oi Malfoy!" Malfoy turned around and smirked at James.  
  
"Potter. How very unpleasant to see you."  
  
"The feeling is mutual Malfoy believe me. But that wasn't what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to know why you were staring at Lily on Wednesday."  
  
"Can't a guy look at the girl he's dating? I'm sure you stare at your girlfriend often enough."  
  
"Except that you and Lily aren't dating Malfoy. So maybe the truth now? Oh that's right. You don't tell the truth."  
  
"I have a way we can settle this Potter. Wizard's duel. Right here, right now, no seconds."  
  
James hesitated slightly. "Scared Potter?" Malfoy taunted.  
  
"You wish."  
  
They both drew their wands and took five steps backwards. "Expelliarmus!"  
  
"Protego!" Malfoy's spell bounced off James' shield then James yelled, "Tarantellegra!" Malfoy began dancing wildly and dropped his wand. "Petrificus Totalus," James said. Malfoy fell over backwards and James leaned down next to him. "I'm not going to kill you Malfoy. But remember this. Leave Lily alone. Otherwise next time I'll do something a whole lot worse."  
  
Saturday  
  
Lily stepped out of the bathroom into the girl's dorm ready to go to Hogsmeade. Carly glanced at her and groaned. "Oh Lily no you can't wear that."  
  
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Lily looked into the mirror to see herself looking normal in her blue flared denim jeans, purple t-shirt with the words 'My other car is a broom' written on it, denim jacket and black high heel boots.  
  
"You're wearing that t-shirt again."  
  
"It's my favourite top and I'm not changing now."  
  
"You can be really stubborn you know that Lily?"  
  
"Let's just go meet the guys."  
  
Lily and Carly snuck outside to the Whomping Willow where the Marauders were already waiting. "What took you guys so long?" asked Peter.  
  
"Carly didn't approve of my choice of attire," Lily replied.  
  
"Why what's wrong with it?" Sirius inquired.  
  
"I'm wearing my favourite top and it says 'My other car is a broom.'"  
  
"That sounds cool," said Remus.  
  
"It is. I made it myself. But for some reason Carly has always hated it. Haven't you Car? Car?"  
  
Lily, Remus, Peter and Sirius looked around and saw Carly and James kissing, oblivious to the rest of the world. "Hey lovebirds," called Sirius. "If we don't go we're gonna get caught."  
  
"Yeah we're coming," said James. Remus found the long stick lying on the ground poked the knot on the tree with it. The group walked through the gap, through the tunnel and into the Shrieking Shack.  
  
Carly looked around and asked, "Where are we?"  
  
"In the Shrieking Shack," replied Peter.  
  
"What? Isn't this place meant to be haunted?"  
  
"Supposedly yes. Come on let's get to the Three Broomsticks."  
  
"Any particular reason why we're going there?" Lily asked.  
  
"Because every Saturday night they hold a disco there," answered Sirius.  
  
Lily face lit up with delight. "Then let's go already!" she ran through the house and outside to the road. When she turned back around the rest of the group was only just emerging from the Shrieking Shack. "Hurry up!" she called with glee as she began to meander down the road towards the Three Broomsticks.  
  
When the group arrived at the Three Broomsticks they found it alive with music and people. The Marauders and Lily sat down at table as Carly went to get butterbeers. Lily was looking at the dance floor with excitement and was tapping her feet in rhythm with the music. "You're desperate to get out there aren't you Lady Lily," Remus said.  
  
"It's no wonder why," James commented as Lily nodded. "Lily's one of the best dancers I've seen."  
  
Lily looked at him in confusion. "When have you seen me dance?"  
  
"Oh um at the uh Yule Ball?"  
  
Lily looked at James skeptically but Carly came back with the butterbeers then and she didn't get the chance to think about it. Lily quickly drank her butterbeer then stood up. "Come on someone come dance with me," she stated. Carly sighed and quickly finished her drink then went with Lily to the dance floor.  
  
The Marauders watched them dancing as they sipped their butterbeers. "You know I really missed those two when I was suspended," Sirius randomly announced.  
  
"Hey what about the rest of us?" Remus joked.  
  
"Yeah I missed you guys too but Lily and Carly have something about them. I don't know it's like a passion for life or something. But I missed all the little things that you take for granted. I missed hearing Lily complaining about homework and then not bothering to do it anyway. Or how Carly would roll her eyes and shake her head the next morning when Lily would come down to breakfast again with her work not done. Or how they both always seem to be smiling no matter what. You know what I mean?"  
  
"Yeah," said James with a half-smile on his face as he looked at the two girls dancing. "Yeah I get it." 


	25. Love Life

Chapter 25 – Love Life  
  
A flock of owls flew into the Great Hall during breakfast one morning in February. An owl Lily didn't recognise dropped a letter in front of her. She opened the envelope and skimmed through the note. "You've got to be kidding me," she said.  
  
Carly and the Marauders looked at her. "What's up?" asked Carly.  
  
"Listen to this." Lily cleared her throat then read the letter out loud.  
  
Freak,  
  
I am engaged. I'm marrying a man of excellent prospects by the name of Vernon Dursley. He knows about your abnormality only because I have told him that I never wish to see you again. Which obviously explains why you are not invited to the wedding. Just thought you'd like to know.  
  
Petunia.  
  
Carly recovered quickly from her shock and said in contempt, "Why would anyone ever want to marry her?"  
  
Lily snarled viciously at the letter from her ever so lovely older sister. "Thought I'd like to know. Yeah, right. More like she wanted to rub it in my face, the fact that she's getting married while I've never had a boyfriend."  
  
"You've never had a boyfriend?"  
  
Lily glowered at Remus. Her day had already been spoiled before it really got to start so she was in no mood to be questioned about her non-existent love life. "No I haven't. Not that I care but Petunia does and I'm sure she finds it hilariously funny that I'm sixteen but have no dating experience."  
  
Before anyone else could say anything Lily stood up and said, "I'll see you guys in Transfiguration." She left the Great Hall muttering under her breath, "Stupid cow."  
  
The Marauders turned to Carly. "So Lily really hasn't ever had a boyfriend?" asked James.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"But why?" asked Sirius.  
  
Carly shrugged. "I guess because no one's ever asked her out."  
  
The Marauders were stunned. "No way," said Peter.  
  
"How could anyone have not asked Lily to go on a date?" asked Remus.  
  
"Maybe we should set her up with someone," James suggested.  
  
Carly tried to say something but Remus beat her to it. "Maybe a Ravenclaw? My girlfriend could probably suggest a good guy for Lily."  
  
"No!" Carly finally got the Marauders attention. "You are not going to set Lily up with someone. First off she would kill you guys for doing it and second she would kill me for not stopping you guys. So just stop thinking about it."  
  
While this conversation was going on in the Great Hall another one was about to start in the Transfiguration classroom.  
  
Lily was humming some Beatles songs as she read Pride and Prejudice again in hopes of forgetting about Petunia and her pending marriage. Someone stopped in front of her but Lily didn't look up hoping that whoever it was would move away when they figured out she was ignoring them. "Good morning Lily." Lily heard the unmistakeable drawl in the young man's voice and looked up with a scowl on her face.  
  
"Malfoy," Lily said coldly, by way of greeting. Lily then went straight back to her book.  
  
"Now, now Lillian that's no way to treat an old friend."  
  
"My name is not Lillian."  
  
"But I thought-"  
  
"You thought wrong. What the hell do you want with a dirty little mudblood like me Malfoy?"  
  
"Mudblood? Whatever are you talking about? I would never call you that."  
  
"Get on with it Malfoy."  
  
"Fine I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to Hogsmeade tomorrow."  
  
"No."  
  
"What?! You should feel honoured that I would lower myself to the likes of a mudblood like you."  
  
At this point Carly and the Marauders walked in to hear what Malfoy had said. The Marauders were about to bound over there and beat Malfoy to a pulp when Carly stopped them. "Lily knows how to handle Malfoy. Just watch."  
  
"Malfoy you've never liked me and I have always hated you. The only reason you could have for asking me out is if you're planning something bad. Go ask Narcissa Black. I'm sure she'd love to go to Hogsmeade with your disgusting self."  
  
Malfoy glared at her. "You'll pay for this one day mudblood," he said before stalking over to his seat.  
  
Lily went back to her book as the Marauders and Carly came over and sat next to and behind her. "Wow Lady Lily," said Sirius. "I didn't know you had it in you."  
  
"You should've," she replied. "After all I've been dealing with you Marauders for the past six years." Lily smiled at them then turned back around as McGonagall walked in.  
  
As McGonagall began talking about human transformations Carly slid a piece of parchment across the desk to Lily. She quickly hid it under her copy of Advanced Transfiguration as McGonagall looked over towards them.  
  
When McGonagall turned around to write some notes on the board, Lily took Carly's note back out. It said,  
  
Lily the Marauders got the stupid idea at breakfast to set you up with a guy. I told them not to do it but I've got the feeling that they're going to do it anyway. You'd better go scary, veiny Lily on them.  
  
Lily glanced behind her and saw the Marauders discussing something in whispers at a mile a minute. Lily took her quill and wrote a reply to Carly. They nodded at each other then continued doing the work they were meant to be doing.  
  
At lunch Lily and Carly sat down in front of the Marauders. "Okay you guys," said Lily, "Carly told me about the little idea you got at breakfast after I left. She also told me that she warned you guys about doing it and how I would react. Are you with me so far?"  
  
Peter and Remus nodded as James and Sirius glanced at each other in, what looked like, worry. Lily continued as a spark of anger ignited in her eyes. "I'm telling you right now to drop it. I don't need you to find me a boyfriend. I'm very happy being single. So leave it alone or I will be forced to do something drastic. And I swear it won't be pretty."  
  
Lily looked each of them in the eye to make sure they understood her perfectly and wouldn't pursue the idea of finding her a boyfriend. She suddenly grinned at the four boys. "Good," she said, "now that that's settled, let's eat." 


	26. First Rehearsal

Chapter 26 – First Rehearsal  
  
Everyone at Hogwarts was looking forward to the Easter holidays now that they were only two weeks away. Seventh and fifth year students had thrown themselves into their work, trying to get ready for NEWTs and OWLs in June. The House Quidditch teams were busy with plenty of practices getting ready for the final matches and then the Grand Final in May. And the sixth year Muggle Studies class was busy collecting props and learning their lines as they tried to get ready for their first proper rehearsal.  
  
"Oi lovebirds!" Lily yelled as she stepped into the common room carrying her copy of A Streetcar Named Desire. James and Carly looked up from the table they were sitting at where they had been whispering sweet nonsense to each other while allegedly doing homework.  
  
"Hey Lily," Carly greeted her friend merrily. "What's up?"  
  
"I have to steal your boyfriend for a while Car. Sorry."  
  
"Oh," Carly looked disappointed. "What do you need him for?"  
  
"Me and my hubby James here," Lily said jokingly as she slung an arm around James' shoulders, "have some work to do."  
  
James looked uncomfortable as Carly asked suspiciously, "Husband?"  
  
"Calm down Car," Lily replied as she rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about the play. We're Stanley and Stella Kowalski in the Muggle Studies end of year play. We have to practise our lines since we have our first real rehearsal tomorrow."  
  
"Can I come?"  
  
"What? Why?" James questioned her as Lily looked at her best friend in shock.  
  
She shook her head and answered Carly's question. "No you can't. This is the second assignment I've actually liked and I'm going to do it right. If you come James will be distracted. So I'm sorry Carly but you can't come. You understand don't you?"  
  
"Yeah I understand. It's okay," Carly replied lightly. 'James will be distracted by you not me Lily,' she thought bitterly as Lily and James left to go outside and meet Remus to go over their lines together.  
  
The next day the group was at lunch. Lily was doing her hair, eating lunch, doing her homework and going over her lines once more. Remus and James were also eating, doing homework and going over their lines but doing it far less successfully as Lily. Carly looked from Lily to James and Remus and voiced the question that women had asked for years previously and would continue to ask for many years to come. "Why is it that men can't multi- task?"  
  
The bell went to signal the end of lunch and practically the whole school left the Great Hall. "Bugger," Lily muttered and doubled her efforts to finish her homework.  
  
"See you guys in Divination," Carly said as she, Sirius and Peter stood up to go to class.  
  
Once the hall had cleared leaving only the Muggle Studies class, Professor Litana took out her wand, removed the tables and created a stage. "Okay class," she said. "I want you to get set up for the first scene. The lights will continue changing so that we can find out what works. Everyone in their places please!"  
  
Litana stayed on the floor as the class went up to the stage to prepare. Lily was standing on a raised platform ready for her cue while Remus and James were backstage. As Lily heard Lisa McCarthy say, "...won't go out on your own feet," she saw James and Remus walk onto the stage.  
  
"Well, what did he say?" said James.  
  
"He said he'd give us even money," replied Remus.  
  
"Naw! We gotta have odds!"  
  
Lily chuckled lightly, listening to her friends trying to speak in a southern American accent. She watched as they stopped below her. "Hey, there! Stella, baby!" James bellowed. Lily stifled her giggle, walked across the platform and leant over the rail slightly.  
  
"Don't holler at me like that," she said, putting on her accent. "Hi, Mitch." Lily smiled. She was having so much fun.  
  
"Catch!" James yelled.  
  
"What?" Lily replied.  
  
"Meat!" James threw a box up to Lily but he had chucked it so hard that it flew straight over her head and landed on the other side of the platform.  
  
"CUT!" Litana shouted. Lily grabbed the box and dropped it back down to James, grinning widely the whole time. "That was very good until the package being thrown. We'll start again from those four lines between Stella and Stanley. This time, James, try and throw it so Lily can catch it."  
  
"Aye, aye Captain!" James said as he, Remus and Lily all saluted Litana.  
  
Litana frowned slightly. "You three jokers be serious for a change. I want this play to go off without a hitch at the end of June. Now positions everyone!"  
  
Lily leant on the rail to say her first line again. "Don't holler at me like that. Hi, Mitch."  
  
"Catch!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Meat!" James threw the box again and Lily did as she was meant to. She cried out in protest but caught the box and gave a breathless little laugh. James and Remus began walking to the other side of the stage.  
  
"Stanley!" Lily called. "Where are you going?"  
  
"Bowling!" James shouted back.  
  
"Can I come watch?"  
  
"Come on." James and Remus walked offstage.  
  
"Be over soon. Hello, Eunice. How are you?"  
  
"I'm all right," replied Belle Parle. "Tell Steve to get him a poor boy's sandwich 'cause nothing's left here." The three girls laughed, though none really understood what was so funny about that statement.  
  
Lily walked back across the platform and down the ladder behind it. She met up with James and Remus to have a chat before she and James had to go back onstage to finish the scene.  
  
-  
  
By the time the bell went an hour later, Litana was pleased by the fact that the class had managed to get through the first scene. They'd had to stop and re-do it many times, but the final run through had only a few mistakes.  
  
James, Remus and Lily packed up their stuff and walked to Divination. As they went the three recited lines from Scene 1 in funny voices. As they reached the top of North Tower, James and Lily were saying the last lines from Stanley and Blanche while Remus was trying not to fall over from laughter. "What happened?" asked James.  
  
"The boy – the boy died!!" Lily pretended to go into hysterics. "I'm afraid I'm going to be sick!!"  
  
The rest of the Divination class stared at them as if they were crazy while Remus, Lily and James all burst into laughter. "Um how did the rehearsal go?" Carly asked, looking at them askance.  
  
"Oh, um, it went great," Lily replied, trying to hold in her laughter but not succeeding. "At least I haven't had to kiss James yet."  
  
Carly stood there with her mouth open trying to process what Lily had said, as James, Remus and Lily continued to laugh. 


	27. Dreaming Memories

Chapter 27 – Dreaming Memories  
  
Lily was sitting outside of Honeydukes with Sirius, Remus and Peter, tapping her foot impatiently, and listening idly to the three boys chatting about something or other. Every few seconds she would glance down the street and every time she would return to tapping her foot and occasionally sighing in frustration. At a break in the conversation, Lily glanced at her friends and saw that they were watching something. Sirius was standing and gesturing wildly. Lily followed their eye line and saw that Carly and James were approaching.  
  
Lily, Remus and Peter also stood up and joined Sirius as he went to meet James and Carly halfway. "It's about bleeding time you two showed up," Lily said irritably, with a scowl on her face. "Can we go now?"  
  
Carly and James looked at her in surprise. "Christ, Lily, what's up with you?" asked James. "You don't have PMS, do you?"  
  
"No Potter I don't have PMS. I'm just pissed at having to wait twenty minutes for you guys!"  
  
"Bloody hell Li, what is your problem today? It's not like you're Ms Punctuality," said Carly. "In fact, you're the one who's always late, so don't even think about yelling at us about it again."  
  
"You know what? Just forget it. I'll see you later." Lily glared at the couple then stomped off in the direction of the Hog's Head, leaving the others watching her in confusion.  
  
"What's wrong with her?" asked Peter.  
  
"I don't know but I should go find out," said Carly, extricating herself from James.  
  
"No, Carly, you stay here." Remus stopped her and explained, "Lily only seemed impatient until she saw you and James. It was when you two arrived that she got angry for some reason. I'll go talk to her."  
  
James watched as Remus walked off to find Lily. Carly looked at him and tried to get his attention. "James? James!"  
  
"What?" James looked at her, startled. "Oh sorry, babe, just thinking about something."  
  
'Great,' thought Carly. 'Now he's going to be thinking about perfect Lily for the rest of the day.'  
  
"Come on," she said. "Sirius and Peter have already gone inside."  
  
James and Carly walked into the Three Broomsticks and sat down with Peter and Sirius. James was deep in thought. He was getting worried about Lily. He'd noticed that Lily had been mad quite a bit lately. James knew Lily had a fiery temper sometimes; he'd been on the receiving end of it enough times to know. But he also knew Lily well enough to know that the little things didn't often upset her. Especially not something as small as someone being late. Not when more often than not she was the one who was late.  
  
There was one other thing bothering him. Lily wasn't really much of a jewellery person. Carly had managed to convince Lily to get her ears pierced during the last summer holidays, so Lily now always wore either dangly or hoop earrings. She also wore one black bracelet. James had never seen her in a necklace and maybe once wearing a ring. However, in the past couple of weeks since just before the Easter holidays had started, James had noticed that Lily had been wearing a necklace with a large red stone hanging from it. Carly liked it because she thought it might be the first step towards Lily acting and dressing girlier, never mind the fact that Lily enjoyed wearing skirts and was constantly playing with her hair. But there was something about it that James didn't like. It was probably just the fact that whenever he looked at it, the stone seemed to glow, as if it had a life of its own.  
  
Remus had managed to catch up to Lily just as she slammed her way into the Hog's Head. But as he followed her in somebody stepped in front of him blocking his view of the red head. "Remus Lupin, good to see you."  
  
Remus took a better look at the young man in front of him. "Mundungus Fletcher," he replied. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"  
  
"You owe me money don't you Lupin?"  
  
"Ah Dung, I believe it's the other way around. You've owed me 63 galleons since you left Hogwarts at the end of last year. Pay up."  
  
Mundungus grumbled and groaned but took out the money and gave it to Remus. "One more thing Mundungus," Remus said as he looked around the pub. "You can't see Lily Evans anywhere can you?"  
  
"Evans? Red hair, average height?"  
  
"That's the one."  
  
"Sorry Remus, I haven't seen her since I graduated."  
  
Remus sighed. "Thanks Dung. I'll see you another time."  
  
Remus left the Hog's Head and began walking back to the Three Broomsticks. Remus knew that James was worried about how Lily had been acting recently. Until today Remus had thought that James was overreacting. But he was starting to think James had a point. For one thing Remus had never seen Lily get angry at Carly before, especially when there was no reason for that anger. Second, when Lily had started berating James and Carly for their tardiness, the necklace she was wearing had started pulsing with a red light. The next time he saw her, Remus was going to ask Lily where the necklace had come from.  
  
He sat down next to Sirius and shook his head. "I followed Lily into the Hog's Head but Mundungus Fletcher cut me off and I lost sight of her. The one consolation was I finally got Dung to pay the 63 galleons he owed me." Remus picked up the butterbeer James gave him and asked, "Has anyone noticed anything unusual about Li's necklace?"  
  
"You've noticed it too?" James replied.  
  
"Noticed what?" Sirius asked.  
  
"That Lily's necklace glows. Whenever I look at it, it's glowing. It makes me feel uneasy."  
  
"Really?" said Remus. "Well when Lily was talking to you and Carly the stone was pulsing with this sort of red light. No one else has seen anything like this happening?"  
  
Peter, Sirius and Carly all shook their heads, indicating that they hadn't. It was at this point in the conversation that Lily suddenly appeared and sat down across from Peter. "Hey guys," she said brightly, grinning. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Actually Lily," said James, "we were just discussing your lovely necklace. What sort of stone is that?"  
  
"I'm not actually sure."  
  
"Where did you get it?" Remus inquired.  
  
"A small shop in Diagon Alley. It cost 10 galleons."  
  
"Which shop was it?" persisted Remus.  
  
"A small shop in Diagon Alley. It cost 10 galleons."  
  
The others all exchanged glances. "Lily, Remus is going to ask you again where got the necklace," James said. "I want you to answer 'A large shop in Knockturn Alley.' Okay?" Lily nodded, perplexed.  
  
"Where did the necklace come from?"  
  
"A lar- a lar- a la small shop in Diagon Alley." Lily looked at her friends. "Why couldn't I say it?"  
  
"Memory Charm?" Remus asked James.  
  
"I think so." James looked back over at Lily. "Li, I think you should go see Madam Pomfrey. I'm pretty sure there's a potion that restores a person's memory. Can you remember the first time you wore it?"  
  
Lily shook her head, beginning to look distressed. "Can anyone else remember?" asked Peter.  
  
"I think it was two weeks ago," answered Carly immediately. "And I think I'm remembering something else. Lily whenever you got really angry lately, you'd blow up at someone but then not long after, not straight away but maybe like an hour later, you'd be extremely tired, almost like you had no energy."  
  
"You mean, you think the necklace is draining Lily's energy?" Sirius said.  
  
Lily stared at him with wide eyes then began scrabbling at the back of her neck trying to find the clasp. She unlocked it and threw the necklace onto the table. The eerie read glow the stone had been emitting ceased and the necklace lay there innocently. "I don't like having my mind tampered with," Lily said in a soft, angry voice as she stared at the necklace. "I want my memory back." She looked at her friends, her eyes cold with fury.  
  
Thirty minutes later Carly and the Marauders were sitting around Lily's bed in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey had administered the potion and said that it would take effect by putting Lily to sleep and restoring the memory through a dream. The five teenagers were now waiting for Lily to reawaken.  
  
Carly looked at her best friend, feeling worried. "Do you think she'll be-"  
  
She was cut off as Lily gasped as she opened her eyes. Lily looked around the room wildly as she said, "Mal... Vol... neck... mug..."  
  
Carly's eyes widened and she moved to sit on the bed in front of Lily. "Lily, look at me," she said calmly. "Calm down. Breathe." Lily took a deep breath and shut her eyes briefly. "Okay now tell us what happened."  
  
"Okay so I went to sleep," Lily began, "and for awhile everything was black. But then I began to see an image. I was sitting on a chair in a dark room and Malfoy and I think Rodulphus Lestrange, you know that guy who graduated at the end of our fourth year? They were standing in front of me and Lestrange was holding a black box. No it was a jewellery case. The kind that necklaces come in. so then Malfoy said something, I can't remember what, and Lestrange opened up the box. Malfoy took out the necklace," Lily pointed to the necklace on the bedside table, "and walked around behind me. He moved my hair aside and bent down to whisper in my ear as he put the necklace around my throat. He said, 'The Dark Lord has taken an interest in you Lillian. Consider this a gift from him.' Hey! He called me Lillian again. My name is Lily, damn it!"  
  
"Lady Lily, stay focused here," Sirius commented.  
  
"Right, sorry. So the only thing after that is Malfoy moved away from me and Lestrange cast the Memory Charm and I woke up. Of course, when Malfoy said 'Dark Lord' I assumed Voldemort."  
  
"Okay let's go see Dumbledore," said Sirius. "This is just what we need."  
  
"Need for what?" asked James.  
  
"The proof we needed."  
  
"What are you trying to prove Sirius?" Carly inquired.  
  
"That Malfoy is in league with Voldemort. He'll get expelled."  
  
"Sirius we don't have any proof," Remus told him gently.  
  
"Yes we do. Lily's memory."  
  
"It's not real proof Sirius," said Lily. "First off the Ministry is trying to cover up everything to do with Voldemort right? You think they'd be happy about the cover up being exposed if a student was expelled for his relationship with Voldemort? Second, the only 'proof' we have is a memory I lost and only got back because of a potion. Malfoy and his rich daddy could easily claim that something had been faulty with the potion, or even that I simply made the whole thing up. Finally Malfoy knew exactly what he was doing just in case I did work out something weird was going on and covered his tracks. He never mentioned Voldemort's name but called him 'The Dark Lord', which could mean anyone, and Lestrange was the one who Obliviated me so Malfoy can't even get in trouble for casting a Memory Charm on another student. I'm afraid there's not a bloody thing we can do about it."  
  
The group looked downcast until Peter suggested, "We could destroy the necklace."  
  
"What good would that do?" Carly asked bitingly.  
  
"Well," said Peter, "it's unlikely to be able to help Lily now, because it's safe to assume, I think, that Voldemort was taking all the energy that the stone drained from Lily."  
  
"Yeah, so?" James interrupted.  
  
"Let me finish. So what if that stone enhances the emotions of anyone who wears it, not just Lily, and would therefore drain anyone's energy once they had displayed strong emotions?"  
  
"Peter has a really good point," said Remus. "We can't just leave this blasted necklace as it is. Anyone could walk along, pick it up and start wearing it. Voldemort's stolen enough energy. He doesn't need more."  
  
Sirius picked up the necklace and held it out to Lily. "Care to do the honours Li?"  
  
Lily slowly took the necklace from him and moved to the end of the bed where there was a sharp, metal corner. She raised her arm and brought it down hard. The stone shattered and Lily let the drain from her fingers to the floor as she fell back against her pillow.  
  
"It's over," Carly said.  
  
"No it's not," Lily said quietly, but deadly. Her friends look at her. She continued, "Nothing will ever be over until Voldemort is dead." 


	28. Birthday Bash

Chapter 28 – Birthday Bash  
  
James and Remus were walking to the Great Hall after classes in the middle of April. "So Jamesy boy, we're off to Hogsmeade tonight," said Remus. "Seeing as how, as of today, you are officially seventeen and can legally purchase alcohol."  
  
Lily and Carly heard the end of this sentence as the boys sat down across from them. Lily groaned and dropped her head on the table. "I wanna be seventeen now," she whined.  
  
"You're gonna be waiting awhile Li since you only turned sixteen at the start of March," said Carly.  
  
Lily pouted. "I hate being the youngest." She turned a half-hearted glare on James. "You better start buying my alcohol James Potter."  
  
James, Remus and Carly started laughing. "Whatever you say Lily," James chuckled.  
  
"What's so funny?" asked Peter as he and Sirius sat down and began gobbling up food.  
  
"Red's being indignant about only being sixteen and therefore not being able to legally drink," replied Remus.  
  
"Red?" asked Lily. She looked thoughtful. "Red. It's okay. Not very original but I like it."  
  
"You know Lady Lily," said Sirius, "before I got to know you, I never pegged you as being like this."  
  
"Let me guess, you thought I was the typical bookworm?"  
  
"Well yeah. And you are a bookworm. I mean I've never seen anyone go through books the way you do. But then you never study, you love Quidditch and now I find out you drink too."  
  
"I gamble as well."  
  
Sirius looked at her in awe. "Will you marry me?"  
  
Lily decided to play along with it. "Oh Sirius yes, yes! I love you so much; of course I'll be your wife."  
  
Sirius kissed her hand as Lily pretended to swoon. The group burst out laughing as Lily fell off her seat. "Oops," she laughed as she sat back down.  
  
"Sometimes I wonder about you Lily," said Carly. "I still can't work out how you can be a dancer and a Quidditch player and yet be so clumsy at times."  
  
"Hey! I'm not always a klutz. Just sometimes."  
  
"People let's get back to where we originally started," Remus said. "We going down to Hogsmeade?"  
  
The boys nodded. "You girls coming to the Hog's Head with us?"  
  
"Of course! You don't think we'd miss that do you?" replied Lily. She felt Carly kick her in the shin. Lily looked at her. "Oh I forgot," said Lily. "You don't drink."  
  
"You've never had alcohol?" Sirius looked at Carly in shock.  
  
"It's okay Car you can still come," James said. "You don't have to have any of the alcoholic drinks if you don't want it, sweets."  
  
Carly smiled at her boyfriend. "Thanks Jim."  
  
Lily choked on her food. "Jim? She calls you Jim?" Lily tried to stifle her laughter but she wasn't having much success.  
  
"Shut up _Lillian_." Lily immediately stopped laughing and gave James her patented Glare of Doom.  
  
"You know very well James _Zachariah_ Potter that my name is Lily."  
  
"Don't call me Jim, Lily."  
  
"Don't call me Lillian."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine!"  
  
"Are you two done with your little lover's spat?"  
  
They looked up and saw that Remus, Carly, Sirius and Peter were standing waiting for them. "We're done," they answered simultaneously. Lily smiled and looked at James, who grinned back at her.  
  
As they reached the common room Lily asked, "So when are we going to the Hog's Head?"  
  
"In an hour," replied Sirius.  
  
"So go get changed and meet us back here at nine," James added.  
  
The girls nodded and went to their dorm to change. "Lily you are not wearing that broom top again," said Carly.  
  
"What? Why not?"  
  
"It's James' birthday. You have to look nice."  
  
"But I don't care how I look. And besides we're just going to the pub."  
  
"It doesn't matter where we're going; I'm not going to let you wear it. Besides the top is tacky. I'll never know what possessed you to come up with that stupid 'My other car is a broom' statement."  
  
"My top is not tacky!"  
  
Carly gave Lily her Look™.  
  
"Fine I'll wear something else."  
  
At nine o'clock Carly and Lily met the Marauders just outside of the common room. Together they snuck down to the one-eyed witch statue and slipped into the tunnel. Just as James was about to put an arm around Carly's shoulder, Lily grabbed it and pulled him back. "What did you do that for?" James asked indignantly.  
  
"I wanted to know if you've told Carly any of your little secrets."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Oh let's see. The fact that Remus is a werewolf and, oh yeah, that tiny, insignificant detail about you being an unregistered Animagus."  
  
"Well no I haven't."  
  
"James you have to tell her. We've been friends for over a year now, and you've been dating Carly since Christmas. She deserves to know this stuff."  
  
"I'll tell her that I'm an Animagus soon okay? It's just never seemed like the right time. But it's Remus' decision if he wants to tell Carly that he's a werewolf."  
  
"I can understand that. But at least tell her that you can turn into a bloody animal at will. Because there have been times when I've gone to call you Prongs but had to restrain myself. Carly doesn't question it when you guys call each other by your nicknames but if I started doing it in her hearing she'd want to know why. And she'd want to know why I understand the names. And I don't think I can lie to my best friend James."  
  
"I'll tell her Lily."  
  
"Thank you. Now let's party!"  
  
The six friends were sitting around a table in the Hog's Head laughing and drinking. Carly had been alternating between butterbeer, gillywater and pumpkin juice while Lily had had one glass of dandelion wine and then joined the boys on the Firewhiskey shots. As the time approached midnight Carly decided she'd had enough. James and Sirius were bordering on drunk and Remus, Lily and Peter were incredibly tipsy. "Guys I think it's time we went back to Hogwarts," she said.  
  
"Oh come on Carly we're just getting started!" Sirius exclaimed.  
  
Carly whispered to Lily, "Come on Li let's go."  
  
Lily pulled her arm back and replied loudly, "No thanks Car, I think I'll stay."  
  
Carly huffed, got up and left the pub. "What's her problem?" James asked.  
  
Lily shrugged and held up her pint for a toast. "To James."  
  
"To James!" Everyone clinked their glasses and drank deeply from them then cheered.  
  
An hour later the group of five staggered out of the Hog's Head. Lily, Remus and Peter were trying to support James and Sirius, who were blind drunk, but were having difficulty as they were extremely tipsy and also stumbling along. James looked up at Lily who, along with Peter, was trying to stop James from falling flat on his face on the cobble-stoned road. "You're so pretty Lily," he slurred. "I'm going to marry you one day."  
  
Lily stopped and stared at James in shock. She suddenly felt completely sober. "You're drunk James."  
  
"Only drunks and children ever tell the truth Lily," Remus commented, "and James is both." Remus broke down into laughter.  
  
Lily glared at him and continued pulling James down the street. "I'll marry her someday," he continued to mumble. 


	29. Grand Final

Chapter 29 – Grand Final  
  
"Good morning Quidditch fans!" James called over the noise being made in the stands of the Quidditch by the Hogwarts students. James had begged McGonagall to let him commentate the Quidditch matches for the year. He ended up having to persuade her with the argument that as he had been a Quidditch captain he was best suited to the job.  
  
"Today's conditions are perfect for the match. Blue sky, sunny and little wind. It's shaping up to be an interesting match, wouldn't you agree Sirius?"  
  
"I agree there James-"  
  
"What is going on here Potter?" asked McGonagall.  
  
James put on his innocent smile and turned to the stern Transfiguration teacher. "Well, you see, Professor," he began, "I thought that seeing as how this is the grand final and it's between two incredible teams, there should be two commentators."  
  
McGonagall glanced at the two of them through narrowed eyes, immediately suspicious. "I'll allow it," she said. "But if anything happens today I'll know exactly who to blame."  
  
James and Sirius nodded. "Now as I was saying," Sirius began again, "today's match is going to be tough either way. Gryffindor's captain Lily Evans has found some gems. After playing together for less than a year Evans has the team working like a well oiled machine. They've only lost one game all year and that was to the undefeated Slytherin captained by Lucius Malfoy."  
  
James took over again. "Malfoy, as much as I loathe to admit it, has put together a state of the art team. New Seeker Jim Henley was an amazing find and was the _only_ reason Slytherin previously managed to beat Gryffindor this year."  
  
Sirius saw the change room doors open and nudged James in the ribs. "And here we go everyone, the teams are now emerging. Captains are shaking hands- "  
  
"Would you just look at those two," James cut in. "You could cut the tension between Evans and Malfoy with a knife. Madam Hooch lets out the Bludgers and the Snitch and the game's started."  
  
"Hooch throws up the Quaffle which is taken immediately by Evans who is now streaking up the pitch towards Malfoy. Passes to Smythe, back to Evans. Evans drops the Quaffle down to Maskell who passes back to Smythe. Intercepted by Sullivan."  
  
"Henley has gone into a dive. Ross, a splendid Seeker if I ever saw one and gorgeous too-"  
  
"POTTER!"  
  
"Sorry Professor. Henley and Ross are still in a steep descent." James's eyes widened as he stood up to watch and realised there was no Snitch. "Henley's feinting! CARLY STOP!"  
  
Henley pulled up at the last minute and Carly crashed into the ground. Sirius pulled James back into his seat.  
  
"Unfortunately the warning was a bit late there James," he said. "Henley has pulled off a nice use of the Wronski Feint. Evans and Hooch are down on the ground and appear to be arguing with Ross. And what's this? Ross is back on her broomstick. It would seem that she has refused to let Evans put the reserve Seeker in."  
  
"Right then, Brady has the Quaffle and manages to get it past Goluff," James continued to commentate. "Slytherin is up 10-0 with the first goal of the game. Evans back in possession of the Quaffle. She's a superb flyer especially as she is on a Comet 50 which is also what Ross is on. They're older model brooms but with such excellent flyers they can easily rival the Slytherin team's Nimbus 1500s."  
  
"POTTER STICK TO THE GAME!"  
  
"Evans dodges a Bludger sent by Taylor and deftly throws the Quaffle over Peters' head to be easily caught by Maskell. Maskell swerves to avoid the second Bludger, shoots and scores! Gryffindor scores its first goal although Slytherin is still leading by 40 points."  
  
Sirius winced as a Slytherin player was knocked off his broom after being hit with both Bludgers at once. "Ouch," commented Sirius. "I almost feel sorry for Brady. After being knocked off his broom due to the double attack from Gryffindor Beaters O'Shea and Morgan, Brady is being replaced by Higgins. Morgan and O'Shea are equal to Edwards and Taylor in viciousness. I'm speaking from experience here. Those girls really pack a punch."  
  
"Maskell once more in possession of the Quaffle," James continued. "But wait. Ross and Henley are diving again. The Seekers are racing for the Snitch."  
  
"No they're not!" Sirius yelled. "Henley's pulling another Wronski Feint. Carly's about to crash!"  
  
"Damn it!" James watched as Carly smashed into the pitch for a second time. He took off the Sonorus Charm as he jumped up. "Sirius keep going. I have to get down there."  
  
"Well folks we have another timeout as Hooch, Evans and Ross's boyfriend James Potter all argue with her. Indeed it would be a good idea for Ross to come off. She's slammed into the ground now twice at high speeds and is looking incredibly dazed and unsteady."  
  
Carly pushed past the three and picked up her broom again. She slowly began to ascend. Lily sighed as she and Hooch also flew into the sky again.  
  
"BLOODY HELL!"  
  
McGonagall was so shocked by Carly's actions that she didn't say anything to Sirius about his word choice.  
  
"This is unbelievable. Ross has once more taken to the air and is slowly searching for the Snitch. I hate to say this but unless Ross can get her speed back up then Gryffindor doesn't stand a chance. And after crashing twice it seems unlikely that Ross will be able to do it."  
  
By this point James had returned to his seat. "Higgins in possession of the Quaffle. He shoots but Goluff spins and bats the Quaffle to Smythe using the end of her broom. Smythe passes to Evans who passes to Maskell who passes to Smythe who passes back to Maskell who passes to Evans. Evans feints left, shoots right and scores. Evans is sticking her tongue out at Malfoy. Bit childish there Lily but effective none the less."  
  
"This game is getting dirtier by the minute," said Sirius. "O'Shea and Morgan both sent Bludgers towards Henley, both of which hit, while Edwards and Taylor swung their bats at Evans and Smythe's heads. Two penalties have been awarded to each team. First up are Evans and Smythe. Evans gets hers past Malfoy but unfortunately Malfoy blocks Smythe's shot. Sullivan and Peters both get theirs past Goluff. This brings the score to 70-30 Slytherin's way."  
  
"What the hell is going on in this game? The match itself is disintegrating. The Slytherins don't look like they're even trying to score anymore. All they're doing is harassing the Gryffindors in what looks to be attempts to push the Gryffindors off their brooms."  
  
"Is Peters pulling Maskell's pigtails? Come on Hooch do something about this garbage. Penalize the cheating scumbags!"  
  
"Black I'm warning you!"  
  
"Ross has spotted the Snitch!" James was on his feet cheering Carly on. "But wait. Henley is slowly gaining on her. The two are neck and neck. They both stretch out their arms. Push him off his bloody broom Carly! Ross suddenly lunges forward. She's got the Snitch!"  
  
"In an amazing display of courage and stupidity Carly Ross has caught the Snitch even after falling victim to the Wronski Feint twice. The final score is 180-70. Gryffindor has won the Quidditch cup! Let's party!" 


	30. A Night like This

**Disclaimer: **As always I'm not JK. Different from usual is that surprisingly I don't own _A Streetcar Named Desire_. That would be Tennessee Williams.

A/N: Chapter first. Apologies after.

* * *

**Chapter 30**

**A Night like This**

The evening before school ended Lily, Carly and the Marauders were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. Exams were over and results given out. Each of the six had managed reasonable to excellent marks. But the group of friends weren't discussing marks or summer. They were busy talking about the production of _A Streetcar Named Desire_ that the sixth year Muggle Studies class would be performing two hours later.

James and Remus were both feeling nervous at this point. Neither had any real confidence in their acting abilities. But Lily was really beginning to freak out. She had no faith in herself at all when it came to acting and the stage fright plus the fact she had a major role certainly weren't helping. Lily was fidgeting endlessly and Carly was getting annoyed with her friend. "Bloody hell Lily! Could you stop fidgeting?"

"Sorry," Lily said. She planted her feet flat on the floor and sat on her hands. But three minutes later Lily was back to biting her nails, playing with her hair and bouncing her feet.

"Oh for Christ's sake Li!" Carly exclaimed. "Calm down already would you? I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Fine? Fine! You get up in front of all of Hogwarts and then see if you'll be calm and fine and dandy."

The boys decided it was time to intervene before this conversation escalated into a full blown row between Carly and Lily. "We should probably head down, Red," said Remus.

"I agree," added James. "Let's go Lily."

Carly, Sirius and Peter watched as James and Remus pulled Lily to her feet. They continued to look on as the redhead was dragged through the portrait hole. "Well," Sirius commented, "what are we going to do now?"

"Anyone up for Exploding Snap?" suggested Peter.

An hour later Peter, Sirius and Carly arrived in the Entrance Hall. Sirius had never figured out how nearly a thousand students and teachers managed to fit in the Entrance Hall. He shrugged and followed Carly and Peter into the crowd outside the doors to the Great Hall. After waiting around for ten minutes the doors opened and everyone began moving into the Great Hall.

Carly, Sirius and Peter stared around them in awe as they stepped through the doors. The Great Hall had been completely transformed. Where there had once been a large well lit room with five long tables, there was now a large room filled with seats and a downward slope leading to a stage. It had become a true theatre.

"Wow," breathed Peter.

"You can say that again," Carly commented.

"Wow."

"I didn't mean that literally."

"Oh."

"I'm never going to get used to the Hall looking like this. Even after seeing it so after five years it still seems strange," said Sirius. "Come on, let's find some seats."

Carly, Sirius and Peter had been sitting and talking for ten minutes when the lights started to fade. The whole hall went silent as Professor Litana stepped out of the curtains on stage. "Good evening everyone and thank you for coming," said Litana. "This year's class has put in a great deal of work so we hope that you will enjoy our production of_ A Streetcar Named Desire_." She bowed and walked backstage.

Peter, Sirius and Carly smiled at each other as the curtains opened, revealing a house on a street. Carly vaguely remembered something about New Orleans but immediately dismissed it as Michelle Wilkins began the first line of the play.

"…she says St Barnabas would send out his dog to lick her and when he did she'd feel an icy cold wave all up and down her. Well, that night when-"

Two boys Carly didn't recognise, one dressed as a sailor, were walking across the stage. The one on the left said, "You keep right on going and you'll find it. You'll hear them tapping on the shutters."

The sailor turned to Belle Parle and Wilkins. "Where's the Four Deuces?"

A vendor called out, "Red hot! Red hots!"

Wilkins replied to the sailor, "Don't waste your money in that clip joint!"

"I've got a date in there," said the sailor.

"Re-e-ed h-o-o-t!"

Carly decided she'd have to ask who all these people were. The sailor looked kind of cute. But she loved James of course she quickly reminded herself.

"Don't let them sell you a Blue Moon cocktail or you won't go out on your own feet!"

It was at this point that James himself walked on stage with Remus. Carly grabbed Sirius's arm and grinned like a maniac.

"Well, what did he say?" asked James.

"He said he'd give us even money," replied Remus.

"Naw! We gotta have odds!" They stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the house. James bellowed, "Hey, there! Stella, Baby!"

When nothing happened James and Remus glanced at each other. Peter leaned across Sirius to whisper, "Isn't Stella meant to be the name of Lily's character?"

"Hey Stella!" James yelled again.

"Yeah it is," Carly whispered back.

"Oh no," muttered Sirius. "Lily's stage fright. You guys saw how she was before Remus and James took her away."

Just as James was about to call out again, Lily appeared on the balcony. "Don't holler at me like that," she said in a believable New Orleans accent. "Hi, Mitch."

Sirius, Carly and Peter looked at each other in relief and relaxed back into their seats to continue watching the play.

James walked on stage into the "kitchen". "What's all this monkey doings?" he asked.

"Monkey doings?" Sirius murmured to Carly.

Carly shrugged and whispered, "Just watch and shut up."

Lily turned in surprise. "Oh, Stan!" She grinned as she jumped up and kissed him.

Carly gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She had begun chanting a silent mantra: _It's only a play. It's not real._ But there was a tiny traitorous voice at the back of Carly's mind that was asking, _Then why did James seem to enjoy it so much?_

"Stan, we've – lost Belle Reve!" Lily exclaimed.

"The place in the country?" replied James.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Oh, it had to be – sacrificed or something."

Suddenly Sirius' and Peter's eyes bulged and they sat forward. "Oh my God," breathed Peter.

"Is Lily stripping?" Sirius asked incredulously.

Carly was barely paying any attention to the two boys as she watched the scene before her. She felt tears begin to rise when she saw the expression on James' face as he passed Lily a dress. The want and desire was there for all of Hogwarts and Carly to see. Most would assume that James was merely acting his part of devoted husband but somewhere deep inside her Carly knew what she was seeing was real. She knew he wasn't faking that expression no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise.

"How is your mother now, Mitch?" Lily asked Remus.

"About the same, thanks," he answered. "She appreciated your sending over that custard. – Excuse me please." Remus walked slowly back into the kitchen.

Alisa Redcliff watched him go with interest. "That one seems – superior to the others," she said.

"Yes, he is," replied Lily.

"I thought he had a sort of sensitive look."

"His mother is sick."

"Is he married?"

"No."

"Is he a wolf?"

Sirius snickered at the line. _How bloody fitting_, he thought. _Yes he is quite literally a wolf_.

Sirius was enthralled in the play. He never thought he'd be so interested in theatre and the like. Whenever his parents had forced him and his brother Regulus to the opera, so that they could maintain the image of the perfect pureblood family, Sirius had kicked and screamed his heart out before spending the night sitting in a sulky silence. Even the previous plays put on by Muggle Studies classes in years gone by had failed to hold his attention. But this performance, this _A Streetcar Named Desire_ had captured him. It had little to do with the acting. While Sirius enjoyed watching his friends up there on stage, even he knew that though it was great by Hogwarts standards, the cast weren't in the same league as true actors. Although part of his interest came from watching half-dressed women walking around (_What teenage male wouldn't be interested_, Sirius thought), Sirius knew that the story itself was what interested him most.

Sirius leaned forward as he watched James stumble to the front of the building, soaking wet. "Stell-_lahhhhh!_" he screamed.

Eunice appeared at her door upstairs. "Quit that howling out there an' go back to bed!" she called back.

"I want my baby down here. Stella, Stella!"

"She ain't comin' down so you quit! Or you'll git th' law on you!"

"Stella!"

"You can't beat a woman an' then call 'er back! She won't come! And her goin' t' have a baby! ... You stinker! You whelp of a Polack, you! I hope they do haul you in and turn the fire house on you, same as the last time!"

"Eunice, I want my girl to come down with me!"

"Hah!" Eunice slammed her door.

"_STELLL-AHHHHH!_"

Sirius wanted to yell at the characters when he saw Lily walk halfway down the stairs. James and Lily stared at each other then came together near the bottom of the stairs, James on his knees with his face against her stomach. He picked Lily up and carried her into the dark flat.

_No!_ Sirius' brain screamed. _Stella you stupid girl, how could you go back after he hit you?_ Sirius then realized what he was thinking. Before it wouldn't have mattered to him. He remembered seeing one of his uncles beating his aunt when he was younger and he had accepted it. But now after being best friends with James and Remus and especially after becoming friends and spending time with Lily and her feminist attitude, Sirius couldn't even watch a fictional character go back and stay with a man who had hit her without becoming angry and indignant. _Too much time with Lily,_ Sirius thought.

Peter wasn't paying much attention to the play. In fact at times he was having trouble simply staying awake. Sure there were the occasional times when he couldn't take his eyes off the stage, namely when Lily had stripped onstage, but otherwise Peter would merely look at the stage at random intervals before drifting off again. Peter doubted he'd forget that stripping incident any time soon. Somehow he knew Lily was self-conscious when she was standing up there in front of the whole school practically naked. It made him remember the day, over a year earlier, when Lily and Sirius had had to wear only their underwear after a game of truth or dare. But that dare she hadn't been the least bit inhibited, nor when she was wearing a bikini during summer. It didn't make much sense to Peter. _But then again,_ he thought, _Lily doesn't make much sense sometimes._

Peter snapped back to reality when he heard Sirius snickering beside him. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"They're discussing Divination," Sirius replied.

"Who are? The characters?" Peter was perplexed. "But I thought this was a Muggle play."

"It is."

"But then why-"

"Well they're not really talking about Divination; they're talking about astrological signs. It's all rather humorous."

"Oh." He was still a tad confused.

Sirius looked at him and shook his head. "Just go back to sleep Pete."

"Can I – uh – kiss you – good-night?" Remus asked.

"Why do you always ask me if you may?" replied Alisa.

"I don't know whether you want me to or not."

"Why should you be so doubtful?"

Sirius grinned as he wondered if Remus had acted this way the first few times he had kissed Julia the Ravenclaw. He remembered that Remus had told him, James and Peter about asking her out and how he thought he had made an idiot of himself when he did. Apparently Julia hadn't thought so though and the two of them had been going steady since about February. Sirius wondered how far Remus had gotten. He doubted Remus had made it past first base since Julia had always seemed like a bit of a prude to him.

"I like you to be exactly the way that you are, because in all my – experience – I have never known anyone like you," said Remus.

There had often been times when Sirius and James had tried to drag details about his relationship out of Remus. But he had never been the type to kiss and tell and always refused to tell them anything. Remus had been a bit quieter lately. He hadn't said anything but Sirius had a feeling Remus was worried about how him and Julia would last over the summer. This turned Sirius's mind to James and Carly.

Sirius had no doubt that those two would make it through summer and would still be going strong in September. He didn't think he'd ever seen James act this way about a girl before. Except maybe during fifth year when he had that crush on Lily, though then he was more jealous than lovey-dovey-sugar-sweet. He really didn't think Carly and James would be breaking up any time soon.

"Well, what do you think of it?" asked James.

"I don't believe all of those stories and I think your supply-man was mean and rotten to tell them," Lily shot back. "It's possible that some of the things he said are partly true. There are things about my sister I don't approve of – things that caused sorrow at home. She was always – flighty!"

"Flighty is some word for it!"

"But when she was young, very young, she had an experience that – killed her illusions!"

Lily had once told her that most people can see an aspect of themselves, even if it's only a very small part, in most fictional characters. Carly found that to be particularly apt now. She could easily see that one line describing the character of Blanche in her own best friend. Carly and Lily had shared their hopes and dreams, their fears and their feelings since they were eleven years old. Strange how one little letter could change everything. The first time was when she had been ten. Lily receives a letter and suddenly her older sister wishes she was dead. Another one when she was almost fifteen robbed her of so many of her dreams.

Carly remembered all the things Lily had ever wanted. Having her parents see her graduate, her father walking her down the aisle on her wedding day, introducing her mother to her baby girl who she had planned to name Carly Anne after her best friend and her mother. Lily would never have any of those things with her family. She didn't even have a family seeing as how Petunia had disowned her.

And all this because of one man. The dreams closest to Lily's heart had been ruined by one sick, twisted creature who decided to murder her parents for a bit of fun. Most of the time Lily was her normal, happy, bubbly, always eager, bookworm self. But there were times when Carly would glance at her and see the cold fire and determination in her green eyes and Carly would know Lily was trying to think of a way to bring about Voldemort's downfall.

"You didn't need to do that," said Lily.

"Don't forget all that I took off her," James replied.

"You needn't have been so cruel to someone alone as she is."

"Delicate piece she is." James sneered.

"She is. She was. You didn't know Blanche as a girl. Nobody, nobody, was tender and trusting as she was. But people like you forced her to change."

Sirius remembered first year. Back then many people had seen Remus as a "delicate piece". To begin with he had as well. A lot of the older students and the Slytherins had always picked on him because he had been very different from everyone else. Remus was the reason Sirius and James had become friends. Snape, Malfoy and the other first year Slytherins had encircled Remus and wouldn't let him past while yelling insults at him. Usually James would be the one to stop them but that day he hadn't been there. Instead Sirius had been there and all the "Lupin-bullying" had finally gotten to him so he stepped in and pulled Remus away from them. The Slytherins had sneered and smirked at him, calling him a disgrace to the Black name, not that Sirius had cared what they said.

Apparently James had been there though. He had arrived in time to see what Sirius did. James had told him later that it was that incident that had made him see that Sirius might be different from the rest of the Black family. The two had become friends not long after and from then had been inseparable. They tried to make friends with Remus and acted friendly to him and continued to stop the bullies picking on him. But after awhile of this not working Sirius and James had realised that they would have to do something different more to gain Remus's trust than simply stopping mean kids that Remus ignored anyway.

Peter tuned into the play again. "But I forgive," the girl playing Blanche was saying. "I forgive you because it's such a relief to see you. You've stopped that polka tune that I had caught in my head. Have you ever had anything caught in your head? Some words, a piece of music? That goes relentlessly on and on in your head?"

Peter thought about that sentence and decided he'd never had something stuck in his head. Suddenly he began singing a tune that came into his head. Sirius glanced at him and hissed, "What are you humming?"

"I don't know," replied Peter. "Just something that popped into my head. Why?"

"It sounds awful. Shut up so I can hear what's being said."

Peter rolled his eyes and huffed. "Fine."

"So I could twist the broken end in your face!" Alisa yelled at James.

"I bet you would do that!" James shouted back.

"I would: I will if you-"

"Oh! So you want some rough-house! All right, let's have some rough-house!"

_I really hate Stanley,_ thought Sirius. Stanley reminded Sirius too much of his family. His pureblood-manic, Voldemort supporting, dark arts practising family. Stanley was a chauvinistic bastard who hit and raped women. _Jeez, I don't think Black men have ever done that before. They're all too kind and noble, purging society of muggles to ever do anything like that._ Sirius scowled slightly and tried to concentrate on the play again. He really didn't like thinking about the family he had been born into.

James stood at the foot of the steps looking at Lily sobbing and holding the "baby". "Stella?" he said uncertainly. He knelt beside her and tried to comfort her. "Now, honey. Now, love. Now, now love. Now, now, love. Now, love…"

"This game is seven-card stud," said Stewart.

The curtains closed on the final scene. The audience broke out into applause. The curtains opened again so that the Muggle Studies class could take their bows. Carly, Peter and Sirius saw Remus, Lily and James standing in the very centre of the line. They stood up, clapping even harder, whistling and yelling out. They continued clapping as the class took a final bow and trooped offstage. The students began leaving the Great Hall, either to return to their common rooms and dorms or to wait for their friends in the Entrance Hall.

A few minutes later the Entrance Hall was almost completely deserted. Only a few small groups of students were left lingering. Peter spotted James, Remus and Lily the minute they left the Great Hall and pointed them out to Carly and Sirius. Grinning, Sirius bounded over to them and swept Lily into a bear hug. "You were marvellous Lady Lily," he proclaimed. He glanced behind her at James and Remus and joked, "Oh you two were alright as well I suppose."

"Thanks so much for the praise Sirius," James replied sarcastically. Remus rolled his eyes in amusement and chuckled.

"In that first scene we didn't think you'd actually make it out onto the stage you were taking so long," Peter said to Lily.

She laughed. "Neither did I! Litana actually pushed me onto the balcony and then I had to say the line."

James smiled then noticed that Carly was hanging back rather than joining the conversation. He glanced back at his friends who had begun to move towards the stairs then turned and walked over to Carly.

"I can't believe you undressed on stage!" exclaimed Sirius. "Have you no shame woman?"

"Shut up! It was in the play so I had to do it. I felt bloody embarrassed up there in my underwear. And now we shall never speak of it again."

Remus looked back as Sirius, Peter and Lily walked up the stairs, their conversation now on the characters. "You two coming?" he asked.

"We'll be there in a little while," James answered. Remus nodded and turned to catch up with the others. "Carly we need to talk."

"You're breaking up with me aren't you?"

The lie slipped out before James could stop it. "What? Of course I'm not!"

Carly simply _looked_ at him. "Don't lie to me James. You never have before so why bother starting now?"

"Okay! I want to break up! Are you happy now!" He stopped shouting and took a breath. There was no point getting angry. He didn't want to break up because he was angry at her or because either of them had done something wrong. James just couldn't keep the charade going any longer. Carly wasn't who he wanted. He looked up at her again. "Can we at least stay friends?"

Carly shook her head slightly. "If you want to be friends you'll have to give me time. Don't sit with me and Lily on the train tomorrow."

"But-"

"Just don't okay!" Carly could feel the tears beginning to well up but she forced them away. She refused to let James Potter see her cry. "Just don't," she continued in a whisper. "I'll see you next year James."

As Carly walked away she thought she heard a voice murmur, "From love comes hate." But she ignored it thinking it was just the wind in the drafty halls.

* * *

A/N: I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so SORRY! You have no idea how much. And I have no excuses for why I took so long to write this. So again huge apologies for the approximately eight months it took me to write this chapter. But on the Brightside it is the longest chapter I've ever written.

And in other news tomorrow the 23rd is the two year anniversary of _Unknown. _Hard to believe it's been two whole years since I started this. And yet I'm still no closer to finishing this fic as I was when I started. I just want to thank all you reviewers. You always make my day.

Samantha


	31. Train Ride Conversations

Chapter 31 – Train Ride Conversations

Lily woke up earlier than usual the morning after the play. For a moment she had trouble trying to think of why her alarm had gone off. There weren't any essays due today that she'd only half-finished. At least she didn't think there was. As Lily reached over to pick up her wand, thereby ending the piercing, ringing noises, she suddenly remembered that school was over and she was going home today. Well, not home but to Carly's house again for the summer. Since her parents had died Hogwarts had been home to Lily.

Lily yawned as she sat down across from Carly in the Great Hall. She nodded sleepily to the group in greeting then noticed someone was missing. "Where's James this morning?" Lily asked. Carly's hand tightened on her fork and she stabbed harder at her eggs. Lily frowned slightly at this but shrugged it off. No doubt Carly and James had just had some little fight about something stupid.

"He's still up in the dorm packing his stuff," said Peter. "He said that he'd just eat on the train."

"I'm not surprised he's not finished yet," Sirius added. "James didn't come in until pretty late last night." Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Carly. She snorted and cut her bacon savagely. Remus raised his eyebrows and looked questioningly at Lily. Lily shrugged, not knowing anything herself, and glanced at Carly before starting on her own breakfast.

After the run around of last minute packing Lily and Carly headed down to Hogsmeade. They found themselves an empty compartment on the train and were soon joined by Remus, Peter and Sirius. Lily thought it strange that James was still missing from the group and decided to mention it. "So Jimmy boy is still missing in action?"

"Who knows where that bloke is," said Remus. "He wasn't in the dorm when we went up after breakfast."

"Must every conversation we have turn to James Potter?" Carly broke in as the Hogwarts Express left the station.

"Uh, Car honey, not every conversation does," replied Lily. "You think I'd even allow that? It would only help inflate his already over-sized ego."

Carly rolled her eyes and turned to stare out the window. Peter looked at Sirius and Remus. "We're going to go look for James," he said.

"Yeah he probably caught an earlier carriage to the station," added Sirius, "and so he's probably sitting in a compartment wondering where we all are."

"We'll see you two later," Remus said as the boys left the compartment.

"Bye guys," Lily replied absently as she watched Carly. When she heard the compartment door close Lily moved into the seat opposite Carly and tried to catch her eye. "Okay spill it Carly."

Carly finally looked back at Lily. "Spill what?"

"Whatever it is you're not saying. Something is up with you this morning and I want to know what it is." Carly huffed and turned her head to stare out the window once more. "Come on Carly, just tell me. I mean if you can't tell your best friend who can you tell?"

Carly sighed. "Fine. You want to know what I'm upset about? James broke up with me last night after the play."

"He did _what_?"

"He broke up with me."

"He _didn't_." Lily was incredulous. Carly just looked at her. "Well, why then? You guys were great together. What reason did he give for breaking up?"

"Li people don't always need reasons for ending a relationship. Sometimes it's just not working."

"So he didn't tell you anything except 'Let's break up, eh?'"

"Well actually that's sort of the way our conversation went."

"Just wait until I get my hands on him. That scumbag's got another thing coming." Lily stood up and began pacing imagining a hundred and one ways to hurt James.

"Lily don't."

"Don't what?"

"Just don't." Carly sent her a pleading look. "Just leave it okay?"

Lily sighed and sat down beside Carly. "Okay. If you don't want me to do or say anything then I won't." She placed her hand on Carly's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"No." She faced Lily, stricken. Lily could see tears beginning to form in her friend's eyes. "I'm hurt, angry, confused, sad, not to mention a whole heap of other things I can't name." The first tear fell from her eye and slipped down her cheek. More followed leaving tracks down Carly's cheeks.

Lily felt awful. Her best friend was hurting but she didn't know how to help. She'd never been in this sort of situation before. "Shh, sweetie don't cry. James Potter isn't worth your tears. No man is."

"I can't help it," sobbed Carly. "I loved him Lily. I love him!"

Lily was shocked. She'd had no idea Carly's feelings ran so deep. But she didn't have time to process it right then. She needed to find some way to comfort Carly. "Oh God, Carly. Come here." Lily hugged her as she let Carly cry her heart out on her shoulder.

Sirius, Remus and Peter had found James all alone in the very end compartment. James looked up from the magazine he was reading when the three young men walked in. "Hey Prongs man," Sirius grinned as he bounced into the seat beside James. "What are you doing hiding back here?"

"Good question," said Remus. "Here's another. Why didn't you come join us and the girls further up the train? You skipped breakfast as well. It's like you're trying to avoid them or something."

"It's not _like_ I'm trying to avoid," replied James. "It's I _am_ trying to avoid."

"Care to explain why?" Peter asked.

James rubbed his temples. "I broke up with Carly last night," he said in a low voice.

"You broke up with her?" Sirius was surprised. "Why? I mean I haven't seen you so happy or, well, _sugary_ with a girl in a long time."

"But that's just it. I wasn't happy. Lately it's all just been for show and I couldn't take it anymore." James sighed. "Carly wasn't who I wanted to be with and I couldn't stand lying to her any more than I liked lying to myself. Even if I was only lying through actions rather than saying them out loud."

"I don't get it," said Peter. "If you don't want Carly then who do you want?"

James glanced at Peter but rather than answering the question he turned to look out the window. "Lily," Sirius answered softly for him. James spun his head around so quickly he was almost surprised that he didn't get whiplash. "It's always been Lily," Sirius continued. "Hasn't it?" James didn't reply but he didn't have to. He knew Sirius could read the answer in his eyes.

"James why did you date Carly if you liked Lily?" Remus asked.

"Because I thought I was over her! And I thought I liked Carly as more than a friend." James sighed again and closed his eyes. He could feel a headache coming on. "I'm going for a walk," he said abruptly and stood up. James left the compartment before anyone had a chance to say another word.

He had moved about half-way up the train when he spotted her leaving a compartment. James took a deep breath and kept walking. There was no hope that Carly hadn't told her about the break up. James didn't want to see her reaction to him. It would probably involve endless pain and possible beheading. Maybe she just would notice him as he walked by.

Lily quickly glanced back through the window at Carly. She had cried herself to sleep on Lily's shoulder. When she'd realised Carly was asleep she had lay her down on the seat then changed out of her robes and used them as a pillow. Lily had decided to take a quick walk through the train to check on the students as her duties as Prefect dictated. "Poor Carly," she whispered as she watched the girl sleeping peacefully. As Lily turned from the window to walk away she spotted James about to pass her. She moved across the hall to block his path. "Hello James," said Lily.

"Hey Lily," he replied nervously. "How are you today?"

"I'm feeling angry today James. Thank you so much for asking." Lily ignored what she said to Carly. She couldn't just let this lie as if nothing had happened.

James grimaced and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "So Carly told you what happened then."

"Yes she told me. I practically had to drag it out of her! You broke up with her James. How could you hurt her like that? I told you – no I warned you not to hurt her. You've no idea how much I want to inflict pain on you right now."

James flinched at the anger in her voice. He did have a bit of an idea actually. "I don't think Carly was very upset about it," he said hoping to placate Lily at least a little.

"You're such a typical man James Potter," Lily replied scathingly. "If Carly wasn't hurt then why did she just spend I'm not sure how long crying on my shoulder? She's only just fallen asleep."

James glanced at the window next to them a tad guiltily. "Look I'm sorry but we were only dating. It's not like we were in love with each other or anything."

Lily made an irritated noise. "I would so love to cause you serious pain right now. But since I told Carly I wouldn't do anything to you I can't. Be bloody thankful for that." James shuffled his feet and tried and failed to meet Lily's glare. "Carly told me she didn't want to see you until school starts again so I'll see you September first. I'll probably calm down in a few days so I'll owl you over the holidays."

James mentally let out a sigh of relief. "Sounds good to me."

"Right then. I'm going to go patrol. And don't forget. I'm currently still furious."

"That's noted. And I don't think anyone who has seen it will forget the wrath of Lily Evans. It really can be quite frightening you know."

"Good to hear. I'll talk to you soon James." Lily turned and began to move away.

"Bye Lily," James called out to her. He watched her back for a few moments before deciding to head back to his compartment to join his friends.


	32. Summer Day Blues

**Chapter 32 – Summer Day Blues**

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Day 1

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Lily stepped through the barrier and looked around the train station searching for Selene Belltower. Carly stood beside her listlessly staring straight ahead but seeing nothing with their trunks in between them. Lily smiled as she spotted a dark-haired woman waving to her. She grabbed the trolley with the trunks and Carly's arm. "Come on Car I found your mum," Lily said as she began walking towards Selene.

Selene met the two girls half-way and hugged Carly. "Hello sweetie," she said, "how has school been?" She drew back when she received no response and looked at Carly's face with worry. "Carly? What's wrong?" Carly again offered no answer as she continued to stare into space. Selene glanced over at Lily hoping for some sort of explanation. Lily sighed and shook her head tiredly. "I'll explain everything when we get back to your place," she said quietly to Selene.

Selene nodded and glanced again at Carly. She frowned slightly before smiling brightly and taking the trolley from Lily. "Right then girls; let's get you home, eh?"

When Carly stepped out of the fireplace in her house she ignored her mother and best friend, walked silently to her bedroom and shut her door behind her. Lily closed her eyes briefly as Carly walked away. She opened her eyes, grabbed her trunk and dragged it upstairs to the guestroom. When Lily walked into the kitchen not long after she found Selene sitting at the table sipping tea. "Care to tell me what's going on now Lily?" Selene asked.

Lily grabbed a glass of water and, nodding, sat down across from Selene. "Okay so Carly's told you about her boyfriend James Potter right?"

"Of course," Selene replied. "Fine boy. I've met his father Walter a couple of times in the Ministry. He'll no doubt be just like his father in time."

"You might not have that opinion when I tell you that he broke up with her last night."

"Oh my poor girl." Selene's eyes flicked sadly to the door. "Do you know why?"

"I've got no idea. But Carly's really upset about it. I don't think she'll get over this soon. She told me she loved him. It was one of the last things she said to me while on the train. She cried herself to sleep and when she woke up this is how she was. Staring at something no one else can see and refusing to speak."

Selene sighed as she finished her tea. "I wish there was something I could do. But there's only one way to mend a broken heart and that's to give herself time."

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Day 4

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Dear James,

I was originally going to address this letter to both you and Sirius, because I have no doubt Sirius is there with you since he apparently spends all the free time he has at your place though I have no idea why, well I've got an idea, but... well I guess this Carly issue is in no way resolved. And that was rather a long run-on sentence.

But that wasn't my point. I'm digressing. Sorry. Before I go on would you like the typical polite opening to a letter? Here it is: Hey James, how have you been? I've been pretty good. Have you been doing much? Because I haven't. The only thing I've done over the past few days is trying to drag Carly out of her room where she has been moping about you. It's been quite a pleasant three days.

I really hope you picked up the sarcasm in that paragraph James because it has not been fun. Carly refuses to leave her room and refuses to speak. She has not spoken one word to either me or her mum since we got here. I had to explain to Selene why her daughter has suddenly lost her voice.

I hope you've realised that I'm blaming this on you. You broke up with her, why I've still yet to figure out. You're the one who has left her like this. I know I told you on the train that I'd calm down but I'm still angry James. I didn't expect Carly to isolate herself like this. I thought she had more sense than to die of a broken heart.

I don't know what to do James. I don't know what it was you actually said to her but I can't take this much longer. I might be furious with you but I'm out of ideas. I've tried everything to get her to talk to me and to leave her room. She won't listen to me. And yes I know that she didn't want to see you over the holidays. But I'm begging you James if there is anything you can do then do it. Please.

From, Lily.

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Day 10

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Lily grumbled to herself as she walked towards Carly's room carrying the clean laundry. "Bloody Carly." She rolled her eyes as she imitated Carly. "'Don't worry Lily, I won't be gone long. I'll be back to help you with the housework.' Well where are you now after I've washed all your clothes and have to put them away?" Lily walked into Carly's room and glanced at the unmade bed and closed curtains. "Screw Carly," she continued talking to herself as she dumped the clothes on Carly's bed. "She can put her own damn clothes away."

As Lily was about to leave the room she spotted an open book on Carly's desk. Lily couldn't help herself and walked over to investigate. As Lily reached the table she recognised the book as being Carly's diary. Lily tried to pull herself away from the desk when she realised this but she couldn't when she noticed that a poem was written on the page the diary was open to. But still Lily wavered. She knew that truthfully this was an invasion of privacy. If Carly had wanted her to read this she would have shown her. Lily bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut as she grabbed the diary, being unable to overcome her curiosity. She opened one eye slightly as she peeked down at the page. After reading the first line Lily opened her other eye in surprise.

_**STRAYED**_

_It seems like I'm the only one who can save you_

_The only one left, to hold you, comfort you and tell you everything is going to be okay_

_But I don't think so, I don't think I'm the only one, I don't think I can do all that_

_I'm only one person, I'm only me_

_I can't seem to rush to rescue wherever you'll be_

_I'm only one person and you are another_

_Distance pries us apart; I'm cold when you're not home_

_I can't seem to fix us_

_We're like pieces of broken china scattered across the sand_

_I can't seem to reach you, you're so far away_

_Why can't you come closer to me, we're so far away, I can't feel you here_

_The first time I met you feels so long ago_

_The first time I kissed you is way past yesterday_

_I can't understand why you're so far_

_Can't you see I need you here, right next to me?_

_I'm drowning in my own sorrow_

_I feel frozen inside, I paused my feelings for you_

_Please come back to me, I need you_

_Right here..._

After reading the poem through Lily had to sit down and read it again. None of Carly's previous poems had ever been so intense or powerful. As she was closing the diary after reading the poem a second time a piece of parchment fell out of the back. Lily picked it up, intending to place it back where it came from but her eyes were immediately drawn to the name at the bottom. James Potter.

_Caroline Josephine Ross you need some damn tough love. Do you have any idea how your current actions are affecting the ones around you? Lily is going out of her mind with worry about you and from what she's implied your mum's the same. Lily actually had to ask me for help. This is Lily Evans we're talking about, she doesn't accept help._

_So I don't care how much you hate me right now but I'm telling you to get off your ass, start living again and stop scaring the people who love you with your bloody apathetic wallowing._

Bloody hell James, subtle much? Lily thought as she put the letter and diary back where she found it. Lily picked up the laundry basket and began talking to herself once more. "I wonder when he wrote that. I suppose Carly got it a few days ago, that's when she finally came out of her room. Well I guess no matter how blunt and harsh James was with that letter, it did work." Lily sighed. "He'll probably never let me forget how desperate I sounded and that I was practically begging for his help in that damn letter I sent. Stupid James."

When she reached her room Lily took out a piece of parchment to write a note. After jotting down only two words she gave the parchment to her owl and sent it off.

_Thank you._

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Day 15

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Lily hummed lightly as she walked next to Carly down the streets of London. Carly glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "What are you so happy about that you need to hum?"

"I was humming? Hadn't realised that." Lily smiled as she looked through the shop window beside them.

Carly looked at her again when she heard Lily singing under her breath. "Alright just _what_ is it that you're singing?"

"Hmm? Oh! The Beatles."

"The Beetles?" Lily could just hear Carly spelling it wrong. "Sounds like insects."

Lily turned to her friend in shock. "You mean you haven't heard of them? Please tell me that in all the six years I've known you I've introduced you to the amazing wonder that is The Beatles. I mean I was devastated when they broke up in 1970. You know what, remind me at some point and I'll play my records for you. They're a huge muggle singing sensation."

"Uh whatever you say Lily." Carly rolled her eyes. Apparently coming clothes shopping had put Lily into one of her super-hyper-moods (as Carly had dubbed them three years earlier) where she was happy and excited about everything. The two girls had already been shopping for three hours though without actually purchasing much and Carly's feet were in immense pain from all the walking. She was glancing around at the muggles rushing to wherever they were going as Lily continued to ogle the dress in the window when she spotted a sign up ahead. "Hey Li. My feet are killing me and I'm starving. The Leaky Cauldron is up the road so let's go get some lunch."

Lily nodded as she moved away from the window though still staring at the dress. "I really want that dress," Lily sighed.

"Lily if you really want it so much why don't you just buy it?"

"Because I can't afford it. Besides I could use the $200 that it costs for dress robes for the Yule Ball."

Carly stared at Lily stunned as they entered The Leaky Cauldron and went to the counter to order. "You're actually willing to go to the Yule Ball this year? I don't have to find some way to convince and entice you to come?"

They smiled at Tom behind the bar as they left to find a table. "Nope. It's our last year at Hogwarts Car. I want to have as much fun as possible. So I am very much willing to go to the Yule Ball."

"Well that's great." Carly hesitated slightly. "You don't need to go into Diagon Alley do you Li?"

_She must be afraid that she'll run into James, _Lily thought. She nodded. "Yeah I do, sorry. I need to pick up a couple of books for Advanced Charms and Potions."

"Advanced Potions and Charms? Don't you already have those?"

"No I've got the ones for NEWT level."

Carly blinked in confusion. "You've lost me."

"Well you know how I want to get a job in the Department for Research into New Spells and Potions when I leave school? I was talking to McGonagall about it at the end of last term. She told me that my best chance of getting an internship there was to take Advanced NEWT Potions and either Advanced NEWT Charms or Transfiguration. So that's what I'm doing. I'm dropping all other subjects except for Transfiguration and Defence."

"So you're only taking four subjects?"

"Yep. It's going to be so much work though. The Potions and Charms courses are so difficult that there are only three people in the Potions class and five in the Charms. I'll probably be dead by the end of the year."

"So that shouldn't take too long in Flourish & Blotts."

"I also need to go to Madam Malkin's. I want to begin looking for dress robes. And I was hoping you could help me."

"Lily I'm not really in the mood to go shopping in Diagon-"

"Look Car I know you're afraid we'll run into James but-"

"Who said I was afraid? I don't care if he's there. I don't care one iota about James Potter."

Lily hid a smirk. "Great then. Cause I need your help with dress robes. I've got no idea what colour or style or anything to get."

Carly tilted her head thoughtfully. "I'd say a dark colour definitely."

"No black."

"No black," Carly agreed smiling. "I think probably a navy or deep green. Not sure what style though. We'll have to see what there is."

After they had eaten and bought Lily's books the two friends arrived at _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions._ Lily began to browse through the racks as Carly asked Madam Malkin what they had in navy and green dress robes. Lily was looking at some light blue work robes when she heard Carly yell, "Li I've found the perfect robes. Meet me at the dressing rooms."

When Lily got there she found Carly standing next to Madam Malkin who was holding some sort of dark green material. After slipping into the dress Lily stepped out from behind the curtain and looked at herself in the mirror. She bit her lip as she smoothed her hands down the dark satin. Carly grinned as she placed the matching cloak around Lily's bare shoulders. Lily smiled softly at her reflection. "It's gorgeous," she murmured as she continued to move her hands over the fabric. "How much is it?"

"175 Galleons," Madam Malkin replied. "It looks wonderful. It suits you perfectly."

Lily's face had dropped when she heard the price. "I can't afford it," she sighed mournfully. "I've only got 100 Galleons in my account."

"Lily you have to get this dress no matter what. I'll give you the other 75 Galleons."

"No! Carly I can't accept that amount of money."

"You can and you will. You can just pay me back when you're allowed to touch that trust fund of yours next March."

Lily hugged Carly. "Thank you so much. You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for." Lily grinned as she glanced in the mirror once more.

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Day 20

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As she walked into the large lounge room Lily hummed lightly. She moved one lounge back towards the wall then did the same with the other leaving a well-sized space directly in front of the fireplace. Lily set up her tape player and inserted a cassette. As the music began to play she sat down on the wooden floor and began to stretch out her muscles.

Lily had decided that she would spend the morning dancing before Quidditch practice with Carly in the afternoon. She couldn't remember the last time she had gotten the chance to dance for an extended period of time that wasn't in a disco. She supposed that it had to have been a couple of months at least.

After a good twenty minutes of stretching and warming up (when she was younger Lily's dancing teachers had pounded into her head all the harm she could do herself if she hadn't sufficiently warmed up before dancing) Lily moved into her starting position and began a routine when she heard a Bee Gees song start up. She spun, leaped and dropped to the floor. Lily moved gracefully through the steps of her dances, sometimes with sharp, jagged movements, other times creating soft, flowing lines with her body.

Lily had been dancing on and off for almost an hour when she suddenly stopped in the middle of a turn. The previous song had just ended and now she was listening to _their_ song. She placed her foot down and turned slowly to face the stereo. The music drifted slowly, almost hauntingly, around Lily and echoed through the room.

It was her parents' song. The one they had always told her that they had first danced together to. Lily fell slowly to her knees, staring at the stereo. She hadn't listened to this song since the night she had been informed that her parents had been murdered.

Lily's whispered words were so soft that they were drowned out by the music. "Mum, Dad. I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn't been a witch then Voldemort wouldn't have gone after you." Lily grabbed onto the floor as tears began to pour down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry. I miss you so much," she choked out past her closed throat. For a split second as Lily knelt there, her body shuddering from her sobs, she could have sworn that she smelt her mother's perfume and her father's cologne, the scents floating in the air with the sweet notes of music.

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Day 26

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Dear Tiger Lily,

Like the new name? James came up with this one. So how are things going over there in the House of Ross? I'm willing to bet you've done absolutely no work so far. Am I right? Am I? Am I?

Ignore him Lily. Sirius is just being an idiot again. But then again that's nothing unusual. Anyway, you would be very proud of us, as we have finished all the assigned homework. Yeah, fine, no point trying to lie. We've done as little as you have i.e. none.

Remus was meant to come round the other day but he's sick. He's caught a summer cold, the silly bugger. Sirius keeps going on and on about how he's meant to be immune to illnesses since he's a wolf. I tried to explain to him that Remus is only a wolf one night a month while the rest of the time he's human and therefore still susceptible to human diseases.

Ah shut up James! Get off your high horse. He's got no idea what he's on about Lady Lily. But moving on I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I've found myself a lovely lady friend. She's quite fond of me as well.

Stop lying Padfoot. Tell Lily the truth: that you met a twenty-two year old in the town and have yet to stop following her around like the little puppy dog you are. Seriously Lily what happened was one of Da's mates has his niece staying with him for the summer and we were introduced to her. Of course for Sirius it was love at first sight and since then he keeps trying to find lame excuses to bump into her. Of course, Elizabeth (that's the girl's name) thinks he's just a nice kid. Sirius seems to have forgotten the tiny insignificant detail that Elizabeth already has a boyfriend.

Boyfriend, schmoyfriend. She'll figure out what she's missing soon enough. Let's see what else? Peter's been grounded. Apparently his parents weren't happy with the amount of detentions he's been getting. And I don't think they were happy with his marks either so we haven't heard from him since the start of summer.

And that's pretty much a complete update of the lives of The Infamous Hogwarts Marauders. I am the only interesting person here Lily as I have been the only one with proper news since Remus is sick, Pete is grounded and James has been doing absolutely nothing.

Until the time we write again we are eternally,

James Potter and Sirius Black

The Dynamic Duo of Potter Manor

P.S. I was going to cross out that last line except Sirius is threatening me with castration. – JP

P.P.S. I am not! – SB

P.P.P.S. How's Carly? – JP

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Day 32

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Lily looked up from her breakfast as Carly moved away from the window. Carly passed a letter to Lily as she sat down at the kitchen table. "School letters," she said. "Yours feels heavier than mine for some reason."

Lily raised an eyebrow. She opened the envelope and pulled out a badge. Lily's eyes widened as the pin rested innocently on her palm. She sucked in a breath and held it as she pulled out a letter and read:

_Dear Ms Evans,_

_I am pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for this school year beginning September 1976 and ending June 1977. You will be informed of your immediate duties in the attached sheet. These will be added to and further explained in a meeting with myself and Professor Dumbledore after classes on your first day back. We hope that you will be willing to accept the responsibilities that come with this position._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Professor M. McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

All her air left Lily in a rush of breath. "No. Way," she said in disbelief. "No bloody way. There has to be some sort of mistake."

"Li? What happened?"

Lily threw the Head Girl pin to Carly. "They made me Head Girl!" Lily was beginning to sound hysterical and distraught. She stood up and began pacing, throwing her hands around as she spoke. "Me! What were they thinking? I don't deserve to be Head Girl. I'm irresponsible and lazy and I never do my work and… and… and it just shouldn't be me."

Carly stood and grabbed Lily's hands forcing her to stop walking. "Lily, why are you so worried? You're Head Girl and you'll be great. Despite claiming to be lazy and irresponsible, neither of which you are by the way, Dumbledore and McGonagall can see past that. You, Lily Evans, are a strong witch, fiercely loyal and extremely trustworthy. Think about it Li. The situation with Voldemort isn't going away and in times like these those are the qualities that the teachers are going to be looking for in the student leaders. Dumbledore doesn't want some Deatheater in the most powerful role a student can gain in the school."

"But-"

"No buts Lily. You'll do fine. In fact you'll do better than fine. You will probably end up being the best Head Girl Hogwarts has ever seen."

Lily bit her lip nervously. "Do you really think I can handle it Car?"

"I don't think so. I know so."

Lily smiled slightly as she picked up the pin. "Well here goes nothing I guess."

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Day 38

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**Voldemort on a Rampage**

During the past week the Dark wizard who goes by the moniker of Lord Voldemort has become far more active. In the past week alone there have been the deaths of six muggle-borns as well as two Ministry officials.

At a Ministry of Magic press conference held yesterday Armando Viento, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had this to say: "The British wizarding community has nothing to worry about. This new Dark wizard, this _Lord Voldemort_, is not a threat. We have our best Aurors searching for him and he will soon be brought to justice. I repeat, there is nothing to worry about."

However, here at the _Daily Prophet_ we believe there is plenty to "worry about". From what we've been able to uncover Voldemort has slowly been gaining supporters and killing wizards and muggles alike for the last six years.

The Ministry is currently refusing to release any details concerning the nature of these recent murders but from what little information we've received, we have discovered that they were both slow and horrific. Due to the extensive wounds and trauma suffered by the victims prior to their deaths the _Prophet_ has been prohibited from publishing photos or explicit descriptions.

The Ministry is telling you not to worry. But we say that you should begin to retrain in your defensive spells. It's beginning to look like we've got another Grindelwald on our hands.

Story by Leith Lupus.

Lily closed the newspaper and gazed out across the backyard. "It's getting worse."

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Day 42

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The two girls had been slowly working through their Potions homework when Carly brought up a topic she'd been thinking about a lot over summer. She set down her quill and said, "Hey Li do you think it's possible to fall in love more than once?"

Lily looked up and saw how serious Carly appeared. Lily put down her pen and closed her textbook after marking her page. "Yes I do believe it's possible to fall in love more than once. I mean look at your parents. They were in love and married but they got divorced. And now your dad's happy and in love again and remarried."

"So if you believe that people can fall in love with more than one person then you mustn't believe in soul mates."

"Oh I believe in soul mates though not in having one true love. Probably sounds strange coming from me, the girl who delights in being single and scorns love."

"You know Li I always wondered about that…" Carly trailed off hoping that Lily would explain her reasons.

Lily picked up her pen and began to fiddle with it. She kept her eyes focused on the pen so she wouldn't have to meet Carly's. "I've only ever admitted to this once before. Last summer I was thinking about love one day and Peter found me in James' library. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't try to think of an excuse and instead just blurted out what I was thinking. I told Pete that I was afraid of love because it was the unknown. I think my exact words were something along the lines of love being an unknown big black hole that I was scared of falling into. It was something I didn't understand and it frightened me.

"Over the past year I've actually spent a lot of time thinking about this and I've narrowed down just what it is about love that scares me so much. I'm afraid that if I fall in love I'll lose myself. I'm afraid that I'll lose my individuality and identity and simply be one half of a couple and nothing more." Lily finally looked at Carly and smiled. "But enough about that. What were we talking about before?"

"Soul mates. So tell me exactly how do you believe in soul mates yet still think that we can love more than one person in our lifetimes?"

"Simple. People can fall in love with someone who isn't their soul mate."

"Well that's just great isn't it? What's the point of having a soul mate if that person isn't who you're going to spend the rest of your life with?"

"Well it's a nice idea isn't it? That there's one person out there that you're destined to be with."

Carly shook her head. "I never knew you were such a romantic Lily. I wouldn't have expected it from you."

"You're telling me you don't believe in soul mates?"

"No I don't. Like I said, what's the point if your 'soul mate' isn't the one you're going to fall in love with?"

"Look the way I see it is this: you can fall in love with anyone you want. The heart wants what the heart wants, right? But if they're not your soul mate then you'll fall out of love. It might be weeks or years but eventually you will fall out of love. However, when you fall in love with your soul mate you never fall out of love."

"Lily, why exactly do you believe in soul mates, apparently so vehemently?"

Lily bit her lip and looked out the window, away from Carly. "Because… everyone needs something to believe in."

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Day 46

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Lily sat in the window seat of the room which had gradually become hers. She sighed lightly as, looking out at the rain, she laid her head against the window before smirking. Lily had found out that today was the day that her sister lost her surname of Evans forever. It was Petunia's wedding day and Lily found it fitting and quite filled with karma that Petunia's outdoors ceremony was being washed out. She couldn't help but feel at least a small bit of triumph that Petunia's day was starting off so horribly.

Lily could remember that as a young child Petunia had been her hero. She had looked up to Petunia and wanted to be just like her. One particularly vivid memory she had was from when she was four years old. She had followed Petunia around for days carrying a certain doll and asking "Petoona" to play with her. And every time Lily had held out the doll to her older sister Petunia had taken it and sat down on the floor to play with her again and again.

When she had been nine and Petunia thirteen, Petunia had experienced her first real crush on a boy. She had told Lily all about how cute and nice he was. His name had been Robert Marsters and Petunia had completely planned out what her marriage to him would be like. Petunia would wear a white, full-skirted gown with a lace veil while Lily, as bridesmaid, would be in a deep blue, floor-length dress. Petunia would be carrying a bouquet of white orchids as she walked down the aisle of the Catholic church around the corner on their father's arm. Lily couldn't help but wonder if Petunia had kept any of her original teenage plans since so many of them had changed.

Back in those days Petunia had been a sweet, kind and caring girl. She used to have dreams. She had wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer and become a strong career woman. Petunia had begun to change when she fell in with the "popular" girls at her high school when she was thirteen. She had become more superficial and focused on boys and clothes rather than school or the piano. Petunia had also begun to be less accepting of people who were different. Never mind that she was Catholic and the daughter of an Irishman living in London.

But at that point Petunia had still had time for her baby sister. It wasn't until the summer after Lily's tenth birthday that everything changed drastically. When Lily had received her letter of invitation to Hogwarts and then had it confirmed by a kind witch that it wasn't a hoax Petunia had freaked out. Petunia had refused to speak to Lily for the rest of the summer and didn't say good bye when Lily had left for Hogwarts.

Every holiday that Lily had come home after that she had been ignored by her sister. But while Petunia had refused to acknowledge Lily's existence, Lily had observed the changes in Petunia's attitude. From the dreaming girl with big ideas she had become snobby, elitist and dreamed only of marrying a rich man who could provide her with a nice home. Lily had felt sad not only because of the loss of the wonderful close relationship the sisters had once shared but also for the loss of the person Petunia had previously been. Years earlier Petunia had been her own person and was willing to work for the things she really wanted in life. But over time she turned into yet another of the mean school girls who looked down on her.

And now here was Petunia at twenty years of age getting married to a man who was training to take over his father's company. She wasn't a lawyer, she wasn't a doctor, and she wasn't a career woman. Instead Petunia was ending up a housewife.

As much as Lily hated Petunia for the way in which she had treated her for years, she couldn't help still feeling some of the love for her big sister which had grown in her since she was a little girl. For that reason Lily hoped that Petunia felt some love in her married life and that this wedding wouldn't lead to a completely loveless marriage.

Lily watched as the raindrops ran down the windowpane. She breathed lightly on the window and glanced at the small fog that was created on the glass. She lifted a finger and drew a small heart in the patch of fog. Inside the heart she wrote the letters PE VD. Lily watched the heart disappear with the fogged area of glass as thunder began to rumble outside.

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Day 51

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Lily walked into the living room wearing a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and a light-weight, short-sleeved robe and carrying her broomstick. "Hey Car you up for a bit of training?"

Carly looked up from her schoolwork. "Well…" She glanced from Lily to her books and back again.

"Oh come on Car you've still got plenty of time to finish it before school starts again."

"Well okay. Just hold on a bit while I change."

Lily bounced slightly on the balls of her feet and transferred her broomstick from one hand to the other. She desperately needed to work off all the nervous energy that was filling her body. She was feeling incredibly jittery and something was tickling at her senses. It was almost as if something bad was happening or about to happen to someone she loved. A long five minutes later, which were filled with Lily fidgeting and constantly glancing at her watch, Carly reappeared, ready to go.

Once outside the two girls mounted and flew into the air. As they began to toss a Quaffle back and forth Carly remarked, "So since you've dragged me away from my schoolwork I'm curious as to when you're going to do yours."

"I've already started," Lily replied.

"No way. You start homework more than one day before it's due? Never."

"It's true I have. I didn't exactly do great in the final exams. I mean I still got good marks but they had slipped. I'm going to have to do extremely well this year if I'm going to get the job I want so I've decided to actually work and put in an effort."

Carly snorted. "Yeah right Li. I'll believe that when I see it. You've got good intentions now but I bet the minute we get back to Hogwarts you'll return to being the same old typical Lily."

Lily didn't reply as she grabbed the Quaffle and began flying as fast as she could to the end of the garden pretending to dodge opposing players. When she reached the end she made a sharp 180 degrees turn and headed back the way she had came. As she approached Carly, Lily lobbed the Quaffle over her head, ducked underneath her, caught the Quaffle again on the other side and made as if to throw it through a goal hoop. After watching the imaginary Quaffle sail through the imaginary hoop Lily turned back to Carly once more. "Thanks for having so much faith in me Carly," she said with a faint hint of bitterness.

"It's just that you've said before that you were really going to put an effort in and do the work but then you never do."

"But I really mean it this time."

"You've said that before too."

Lily scowled as she let out a small growl. She sped down to the ground and jumped off her broom when she was still a few feet away. Throwing the Quaffle into the bag of balls, she began to dig around for a practice Snitch. As she did, Lily pulled two golf balls from her pocket. Turning slightly she chucked them as high and as far into the sky as she could. "Catch!" Returning to looking through the bag Lily started muttering curses under her breath. "Finally," she murmured when she finally found the practice Snitch at the very bottom of the bag.

Lily grabbed the Snitch and walked a few steps closer to where Carly was hovering in midair and tossing the golf balls up and down. Lily held the Snitch up a bit and programmed it to begin timing once it had been flying for one minute. "Car drop the balls to the ground then close your eyes. I'll tell you when a minute is up and you can begin looking for the Snitch."

After awhile, having tired themselves out by going through more drills, Lily and Carly decided to head back inside. Despite her physical exhaustion Lily's mind was still racing as were her still jittery nerves. Lily felt like she could collapse right then but she still felt like she needed to be doing something. She knew something was about to happen, about to go wrong but Lily had no idea what it was or how to stop it.

Carly glanced at her best friend. "Lily are you okay? You're not yourself today. You seem really nervous and hyped up."

Lily bit her lip and shook her head. "I've got this really bad feeling. Something awful is going to happen and soon and I can't stop it."

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Day 57

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Carly sighed in relief as she pushed away the last piece of her finished summer homework. Stretching out her stiff back she glanced around her bedroom before shifting her gaze to the box on her bed. She stood up and lifted the lid off the box. The first thing Carly was confronted with was a photo of her and James in a hand-painted frame.

Carly sat down on her bed and held the photo closer to her face. She could remember the day it was taken. It had been near the end of winter back in February. The teachers had forced the students outside during the break claiming that since it wasn't snowing they should take advantage of the fresh air. James had snuck up behind her and suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist. He had startled her and so Carly had turned her head to the side only to find James grinning down at her. It had been at that exact moment that Lily had taken the photo. Afterwards Lily had developed the photo the muggle way, explaining that as a still photo it better expressed the mischievous nature of the moment as well as the warmth between the two rather than if it had been constantly moving.

Carly narrowed her eyes and jumped to her feet in anger. Using as much strength as she could she threw the photo frame at the opposite wall. Upon impact the glass frame shattered and the photo floated to the floor amid the broken, jagged shards. Picking up the next thing from the box, a crystal rose, she threw it at the wall as well.

She felt satisfied as she looked at the fragments of glass that littered the floor in the corner of the room. She turned when she heard a knocking on the door and heard her mother call, "Carly? Is everything okay in there?"

"Yes Mum. Everything's fine."

She heard murmuring outside (_Lily must be out there too_, Carly thought) before Selene continued. "Are you sure? I thought I heard something breaking."

"Oh it's nothing. I was just cleaning out my wardrobe. I accidentally dropped a box and something smashed. I checked to see what it was and it was just an old frame I didn't want anymore."

"Well okay than." Selene didn't sound completely convinced but Carly ignored this hoping that her mother wouldn't pry any further. "Patricia just Flooed. Apparently there's an emergency at work and they need me to fix it so I'm going to have to go into the Ministry for awhile. I'll be back as soon as I can to make dinner."

"That's fine Mum. I'll see you later then."

During the conversation Carly had continued to riffle through the box finding letters, scraps of parchment which had been passed during class, more photos and a small teddy bear. A small growl escaped her throat as she stomped over to pick up the fallen photo, cutting her feet on the broken glass along the way. Carly ignored the pain and the blood that was staining her carpet as she chucked the photo back into the box with all the other hope-to-forget memories before creeping over to the door. She put her ear against the wood hoping to hear if Lily was still outside.

When she couldn't hear a sound Carly slowly opened her door a fraction and peered out. Seeing that the coast was clear Carly moved quickly down the hallway and stairs and into the kitchen. After grabbing a box of matches she trudged outside and skipped behind the group of trees in the back corner of the yard.

Carly emptied the contents of the box onto the ground and arranged it into a pile. She lit a few matches and placed them onto the collection of letters and photos. She watched as the fire twisted and burned, the teddy bear also eventually catching alight. "Damn you James Potter," she muttered as she watched the fire grow. "I hate you."

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Day 61

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_Dear Lily,_

_I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this. Mel is in the hospital. He was attacked four days ago near our house and managed to stagger home. Your uncle and I were able to help Mel get to that magical hospital before he passed out. The doctors took him away and have been treating him but he only woke up yesterday morning. Mel explained to us that he was attacked by people that he called Deatheaters and asked me to get in contact with you._

_Mel wants to see you dear. As soon as you get this letter please come in to St Mungo's and see us. I've asked David to wait down in the lobby for you so that there will be someone there when you arrive._

_I hope to see you soon._

_Love, Aunty Tiffany_

Lily dropped the letter on the table and sat in shock. Mel had been attacked? How was that possible? Why? Lily was too stunned for her mind to recognise the obvious answers to her questions. A minute later she glanced down at the innocent piece of paper in front of her and suddenly the rest of the world came rushing back. Lily jumped up and ran into the lounge room. She needed to find Selene or Carly immediately. Not being unable to find them on the bottom floor of the house Lily was about to head upstairs when she spotted someone through a window. Taking a better look Lily was almost ready to shout with relief as she recognised the two figures outside as Carly and her mother.

She dashed outside to the backyard and, without giving either Selene or Carly a chance to ask what was going on, said urgently, "I need to get to St Mungo's right away."

Selene stood up, crossed to where Lily was standing and made her sit down. She nodded to Carly and murmured, "Go get some Floo powder ready." Selene returned her attention to Lily and said gently, "Lily explain to me what exactly is going on please."

Lily nodded, took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down and replied, "I just received a letter from my aunt that said that my cousin Mel is at St Mungo's because he was attacked by Deatheaters. I need to get there to make sure that he's okay."

Selene placed a hand on the girl's shoulder as a reassurance. "I'm your cousin is fine now. St Mungo's have some of the best Healers in Britain. Carly and I will go with you to see him if you want."

"No that's alright." Lily shook her head. "Aunty Tiffany said that my Uncle David would be waiting at the check-in place for me. I'll be fine."

Selene smiled slightly. Now that Lily had calmed down a bit it was obvious that she was trying to put on a brave front. "If that's what you want dear. Come on let's get you inside and to the hospital."

When Lily stepped out of the fireplace at St Mungo's she immediately spotted her uncle standing looking a little uncomfortable surrounded by so many magical people. "Uncle David!" Lily yelled as she hugged him. "It's so good to see you. How have you been? How's Mel? Is he okay? Can I see him?"

David Evans chuckled. "Whoa slow down sweetie. One question at a time. I've been well, Mel is doing fine now and yes you can see him." He turned and began to head upstairs to a different level, Lily following beside him. As they walked they made small talk about school and work. "I didn't see you at Petunia's wedding," David commented.

"I wasn't invited," Lily replied shortly.

"Oh. Of course." David looked at his niece speculatively. "I take it then that Petunia still hasn't accepted the fact that you're a witch?"

"No. And she's never going to either."

David wanted to say more but the conversation ended as they had reached Mel's room. He opened the door and Lily stepped in glancing around. She didn't notice her aunt approaching them as her eyes landed on Mel lying in the bed. He was absolutely covered in bandages and different coloured gels and pastes. Lily knelt down beside the hospital bed and realised that Mel was watching her. "Oh God Mel," Lily whispered, horrified, "what happened? What did they do to you?"

Mel tried to smile and lighten the atmosphere. "This is nothing Lily. Just a couple of bruises."

"That is not just a couple of bruises," Lily scowled. "Tell me what happened and don't you dare lie to me Melvin Edward Evans."

He sighed. "Fine I'll tell you. It was Mum and Dad's anniversary so I'd been driving out to their place for the weekend. My engine went dead just as I was entering the town so I left the car at the mechanic and decided to walk to the house. A few streets away a group of wizards surrounded me and began hexing me. I tried to fight back but there were too many and I ended up like this."

"Are you sure they were Deatheaters?"

"I'm positive."

"Have you reported it?"

"Yeah there were a couple of Aurors here yesterday."

As she spoke with her cousin other thoughts were running through Lily's head. She remembered that it had been Voldemort who murdered her parents. She remembered the energy-draining necklace Malfoy had gotten from Voldemort and put around her neck. Now Voldemort's Deatheaters had attacked Mel and from the condition he was in were probably intending to kill him though why they stopped Lily didn't know. And that was when it her. It was all too much of a coincidence. Voldemort must have been targeting her. Mel's attack was because of her.

Two large tears rolled down her cheeks. "Mel I'm sorry," Lily choked out. "This is my fault. It's because of me that you were attacked."

"Lily no! How could you think that? _Why_ would you think that?"

"Because there's things from this school year that I haven't told you." Tears were now streaming down Lily's cheeks but she tried to hold them and the sobs back so that she would be able to speak. She explained to Mel what she had found out about her parents and about the necklace. "So you see? It's like they're targeting me or something. And they found out you're related to me so they went after you. This _is _my fault!"

"Lily it's not your fault. Stop saying that."

Lily's emotions finally got the better of her and she broke down crying. She laid her head on the bed and kept muttering, "My fault, my fault" through her tears. The bed sheets did little to muffle the sound of her agonised and wrenching sobs. Mel looked at his parents, helpless to do anything to relieve Lily of her pain and guilt except continually stroking his hand through her hair.

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_A/N:_ (chuckles nervously) Yes I know that it's been a very long time since I last updated. But truthfully I've got good reasons. Aside from having a lot of trouble with different sections in this chapter I also had my final year 12/university entrance exams to study for. But the chapter is here now and I'm hoping that the length will make up for the fact that it's been about 7 months since I last posted. I really am very sorry.

I did not write Carly's poem. A girl that I knew two years ago (hehe, I've been planning to use that poem for two years now) did and she was nice enough to let me use it.

Anyway hope you enjoyed it. :)


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